Teaching Kids with Stories

chillibreeze writer — Shridevi Sathguru

Writing for kids - Resources and articles

There was a time not so long ago that there lived happy families - some large, some small; in every village, town, and city. Work was shared and there was time for each other and a certain warmth in every interaction. There were long talks, stories, fables, and songs to give everybody company.

It was the mythical world of Rama, Krishna, Mahabharata, Aesop’s fables, Grandmas tales, the perfect world of Noddy, the magical world of Snow white, Cinderella, and Rapunzel that shaped every child's personality. Listening to the stories of Pandavas and Kauravas, little children understood that good triumphs over bad. Ravana abducting Sita taught them to be wary of strangers and King Mahabali's magnanimity taught them to always adhere to the promises made. Stories of Lord Krishna's willingness to help everyone around reinforced in them the power of the supreme God. Lord Rama's devotion to his father was an example to emulate while Bharata's and Laxmana's love for their brother symbolized sibling bonds.

In fact, religion did not hinder in communicating these core messages. Stories from Bible taught children the greatness of forgiving, while the significance of Bakrid taught them what sacrifice was all about. What better way could we find to teach children the evolution of man than through Dasavataram. Each avataram spoke volumes on how the entire process of evolution took place.

Where have those wonderful days gone? In those days, there was no idiot box in every house and it certainly did not hold a prime position in the family dynamics. This was also the time when the concept of "family time" was not a mere topic of discussion; it was a way of life.

As a generation is losing out on this wonderful tradition of stories and myths, we will have to do something soon to change our societal structure and our lifestyles. We need to analyze and see if it is the lack of time on our part as parents or the new age family size and lifestyles that have resulted in this drift. If it is our sudden need for isolation from our parents and proudly proclaiming ourselves as a nuclear family, then we would have to evolve a way of bridging this gap. Nobody can deny the benefits of the strong hands of parents and grandparents around the little children while they absorb the timeless morals from each story narrated. There can never be a better way than through citing examples from stories to shape a child's personality, her beliefs, her ideals and her character.

Would then storytelling bring our family closer? I would say 'yes'. There will certainly be warmth in our relationships and bonding with our children. We need to integrate story time into the parenting process. Every festival can be celebrated with fervor not on a grand scale, but with devotion explaining the reason for its celebration. Can we ignore the fact that it is from these stories that belief arises, and from belief comes devotion to the almighty. This devotion will give our children the strength to handle difficult situations even when our protective hands might not have the strength in them to support them.

As a mother raising three young children, I have always relied on the power of storytelling to drive home a point. I have also felt that the pleasure we experience in flipping through a book can never be replaced by the electronic media.

I have listed few of my favorite stories with the messages they carry. The first would be the Dasavataram of Lord Vishnu which explains the theory of evolution of man – starting from pisces (matsya avataram), to amphibians (kurmavataram), to the marshy land dwellers (varahaavataram), to the evolution of half beast-half man (narasimha avataram), the man in the pygmy form (vamana avataram), Parasurama the avataram with irrational thoughts and finally the avatarams of Rama, Krishna and Buddha who could think and act rationally. Amar Chitra Katha's Dasavataram is a great rendering of this classic.

My other favorite stories that I feel hold relevance even today are the story of Christmas, Ramayana which highlights Lord Rama's devotion to his father and the devotion shown by Bharata and Laxmana to their brother, Krishnaleela with a special reference to Krishna and his childhood friend Sudhama, Mahabharata that describes Ekalavya's devotion to his Guru Drona, Arjuna's focus on the eyes of the rotating fish and Karna's magnanimity when he gives away his kavachakundalam.

All these are classics and nobody has retained their essence the way Amar Chitra Katha has managed to in the last few decades. We can also draw from the stories in Aesop’s Tales, Jataka Tales and Panchatantra to aid us in this endeavour. I have also found books for children from Chinmaya Mission to be very resourceful.

I encourage every parent to incorporate story telling as a vehicle to bring about a positive impact in our parenting process and enrich our children’s lives. Let us try and emulate our grandparents and parents in raising children; after all, their methods are a standing testimony to the effectiveness of storytelling.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in October, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Shridevi has experience in product management and management consulting. She also has extensive experience in researching data, data analysis, content writing and report writing. She has worked on market feasibility studies and has evolved training programmes. Her current associations span acrosss story telling, story creation and teaching art, craft and science to children. She has worked on projects with large organisations during her association with ONIDA, Tata Consulting and FEEDBACK Services. Shridevi holds a MBA degree in marketing.

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