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There are numerous writings of really reputable people talking around the many benefits of storytelling, not just in children teaching, but in family spirit. But there are a few important points that are frequently overlooked, so I plan to discuss the ones I consider more relevant in this article.
There are other benefits, but there is no doubt, the most important one is the abilitythat has any kind of story to convey values . Perhaps we have not consciously made good on it, but if you think, most values more firmly rooted in our own personality came to us from the hand of a story: in “The three little pigs”, for instance, we instilled the importance of working well; “The tortoise and the hare” were showing us that constancy and modesty had borne fruit, and “The cicada and the ant” made us see that it was more profitable to be working than being a laggard. A good way to see all this in action is to visit theshort stories for children atBedtime Stories, a site with a huge collection of stories to teach values to children.
This is no surprise when you think about how our brain works. All stories have a script that glues different parts, thus making them easier to remember. In this way, our brain processes this plot as the glue of all elements in the story, making them much more accessible to our memory. And the moral is the best summary of a story, and so what better retains it. For instance, one can forget what all details about the tortoise and the hare, but do not forget that the hare was so arrogant and overconfident that the tortoise ended winning the race.
Another point related to the one mentioned above is theusefulness of stories to teach new things . Due to the fact that it is easier to recall the main story, other details are easier to be remembered as they are linked to a specific time mark in the story. In fact, the stories have always been used to transmit ideas and knowledge, starting from Bible and Jesus of Nazareth, whose parables were a way to educate in a very practical style. For instance, stories are so powerful to our memory, that they can greatly modify our knowledge. For instance, Disney’s movie Hercules helped lots of people to know something about Greek mythology, but once they get this “knowledge”, it will be very difficult to make many people get ride off the idea that Hercules was son of Zeus’s wife, which is not true. …
Children will be excited about spending a few minutes with their parents, when we are devoting them all of our attention. They love, and detect, when we are able to let our adult problems aside. Fortunately, creating an educative children story is something that requires full mind dedicationcustomized stories before going to bed are an excellent way to stablish a strong link with the children . These days, children are used to talk and interact with their parents while they still have other things in their minds. So they will react with enthisiasm if they detect their parents are devoting them their full attention. And to customize a story (I always let them choose the main characters of the story), parents are forced to listen and take care for their children, so children feel really special. That emotional link is so strong that it is another important factor that facilitates memorization and assimilation as taught in these stories. I myself have discovered many times how my children were surprisingly recalling many low level details of stories I had told them long time ago, and never ever talking again about them.
is a great way to prevent the lack of attention many children sufferis a very effective way to help counteract the lack of attention that many children are suffering nowadays Just a weak ambient ligth and parent’s voices will be sufficient to make them stop processing visual stimuli and start using heard. I like to stimulate their visual sense in a creative way.. I usually take advantage of this situation to further stimulate their visual sense, but in a creative way, as too many stimuli so perfectly constructed may do not help develop properly. So I flood stories and characters of bright colors, forcing them to imagine each part of the story.
I wouldn’t want to end without stressing advantages of personalizing stories (for those who think this seems too difficult to do it every day, check for our article about how to create stories in the main menu). Acustom story is an incredibly effective tool to “analyze” children’s behaviors during the day . Taking advantage of the proximity in time and the freshness of their memories about what happened, through the story, we can praise what they have done well, or censor and try to change what they did not do so well. In this very emotional moment, children are so accessible, that a story that exemplifies clearly the attitude we like is much more effective than several hours of sermons and good words.
