The Beauty of Storytelling

I wrote this post a while ago for another website (it didn't get published, by the way) and I couldn't bear for it to sit around, rotting.

The story behind that is actually rather amusing. I submitted to storywarren.com about a month ago and then, the next day, to my horror, they had just accepted and published a different article on storytelling! What coincidence, eh? So, with that said, bear in mind, that this is a bit different than my regular posts.

Storytelling was a way of sharing stories for thousands of years. When many people could not

read or write, telling stories orally was the only way to enjoy one. To make the tales easier to remember, many were developed into songs. Bards would carry these songs from village to village, singing and telling the tales. Many times, we think of the people who came before the printing press as uneducated. In fact, the bards who went around telling stories often memorized entire songs! Epics like Beowulf and The Odyssey were often told entirely from memory. Quite a few of these ancient stories are now folk ballads, relaying tales of knights and maidens and wicked noblemen. 

     Storytelling isn’t what it used to be. Though many of the tales have survived, oral storytelling has gone sadly out of fashion. Because of our busy lives, very few people sit around a fire and tell stories that have been shared for generations. Instead, every kid can plug in a pair of headphones and listen to someone read a story. When I go to the grocery store, I see kids everywhere, watching or listening to something on their IPad or their mom’s phones.

     With that said, I think I know why parents aren’t telling their children stories. It’s hard. As a babysitter, I know. It’s easier to let your child watch a TV show or even to read a book to them than to tell a story. The fact is, doing the easier thing is always going to be the norm. But it is not always going to be the best. What if the power goes out and your child wants to hear a story while you want to go back to bed as soon as possible? Would you rather tell a short story, or go hunting all over the house for the flashlight? The answer seems obvious: tell a story, of course. But are you able to? Will your child be able to connect with the story you’re telling because they’ve spent so much time being visually stimulated?

     While storytelling sounds hard and is hard, there are enough benefits for both you and your child to encourage you to try it. Storytelling allows you to interact with the listener, changing the characters and the events to fit your surroundings or audience. You can answer questions or change things that your child doesn’t like. The benefits for your child are also impressive. Storytelling develops their listening and attention skills. It also helps improve their imaginations—especially if you encourage your child to participate in telling the story. You could let them create the names of all the characters or challenge them to a game of Around the World.  

      If you find the benefits worth the difficulty of storytelling, there are a couple of things you can do to help you and your child get used to it. Using toys as props is a great way to help the child connect to the story, especially if it is a toy they really care about. Finding something that they already enjoy will help them ease into storytelling. Maybe you are having trouble thinking of a story to tell? Subtly adapt a favorite story of your child’s, or even combine a few. There are also storytelling games available online. A simple search on Amazon will help you discover a treasure trove of games.

     In the end, I believe that the oral storytelling that used to exist is lost in our busy world. Though it is hard, however, we can bring it back. Why don’t you instill a love for the spoken word in your child, giving them a benefit that many in our world do not have…the benefit of imagination?