I don’t recall reading bedtimes stories when growing up, but, I recall interesting stories that were told.
I remember the conversations I heard as a little girl to the folktales shared by families, neighbours and friends. Part of me contains songs, poetries and the vivid images of scary monsters painted to scare.
Imaginary plays, make-believes and visits to relatives occupied most of the summer holidays. With foods and songs, long lost friends who came around to visit each having a story to tell.
As a child, everything had a story attached to it from the tortoise broken shell to the weird reasons why the sun chased the moon. The barking of the dogs and why cat meow gathered some dust in my mind.
We learnt by listening and talking. Manners and etiquettes well demonstrated with doctrines of no scientific backing. Adults around us frown upon greed with stories of additional values.
These stories formed the bedrock of my imagination. It didn’t just broaden my mind with meaningful purposes, it shone light into the thoughts and work behind its purposes: the beautiful act of parenting.
The Stories and The Lesson
One of the proverbial lessons I learnt in managing my expectations was from the story of the big tortoise and little tortoise.
The big tortoise had a big imagination. One day, he dreamt of owning a horse. He told the little tortoise the joy such animal would bring. Little tortoise in his excitement demonstrated how he would ride the horse making it jump and stand on his heels.
The big tortoise was furious thinking of such an act of cruelty, for the fear of his imaginary horse, he kicked little tortoise till he fell and hit his head.
On hearing the commotion, other animals intervened asking big tortoise the reason behind his anger. He told them about his imaginary horse and the little tortoise’s maltreated intention to his horse.
Having heard this, the animals asked big tortoise to show them his horse. At this point, the big tortoise realised it was just a fragment of his imagination. The excitement of owning a horse and the greed of not wanting to share landed big tortoise in a deep mess. Little tortoise lost his life to frivolities of the mind.
For every rule, there was a link, a link to the danger of not abiding by the rules. The tales I heard, songs, poetries and verbal appraisal all contributed to meaningful childhood.
My Point…
In a world where verbal communication and parent-to-child interaction has been replaced by electronic devices, it is important to uphold this old vibes. Our children need interactions, therefore, finding the time to tell your children the stories of the past years is necessary.
Tell tales of the righteous, weird stories you encountered in the journey of life, the food you tasted while travelling and people you’ve met are all worth sharing.
Rearrange your scale of preference, place equal importance on verbal stories, book reading and academic achievement.