When my brother and I were little, our mum would snuggle up next to us and say: “All right, tell me a story.”
The tales we told her were probably thin versions of whatever picture book or early learning story we were reading at the time.
But what seemed like just a game to us was really a fantastic learning opportunity. She was teaching us to translate the information and knowledge we had picked up throughout the day into words.
Put simply, she was training us to be creative thinkers.
As an adult, I now realise that there is no better preparation for school, career or life in general than learning to tell stories as a child. Here are some of the benefits:
Developing and enhancing creativity. Creativity is like a muscle—you have to use it to strengthen it and keep it strong. Small children are imagination machines. Encouraging them to tell stories teaches them to harness that imagination.
Encouraging language development. Telling stories helps a child develop language and vocabulary. The more they practice and the more they explore words, the more confidently they will be able to put their thoughts into sentences.
Building confidence and self-esteem. Children require reassurance and confidence as they take the path to independence. Being able to invent their own stories and discovering that their ideas count is a wonderful boost to their self-esteem.
Encouraging a love of words, language and reading. Nothing serves a child better than a love of words, language and reading. For the rest of their lives they will be rewarded and enriched.
So how do you get your child to start telling his or her own stories? Here are a few tips:
- Incorporate story-time into your daily routine. Start by telling your child a story and then ask them to tell you one.
- Give prompts. If your child is struggling to come up with an idea, don’t be afraid to give prompts or suggestions.
- Ask them to elaborate. Be engaged with your child’s story—ask about the characters, their feelings, their motivations, their actions.
- Make it fun! This shouldn’t be a chore; it should be your child’s favourite part of the day. Get started today!
Guest post contributed by Young Authors, who believe in fostering and cherishing children’s creativity and imagination. Check out more of their articles on their blog.
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Love it! What a fantastic idea to turn the tables and get the kids to tell us a story 🙂
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A very important post for parents to read! Should, like you suggest, go hand-in-hand with reading.
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Reblogged this on aimerboyz and commented:
So simple, just talking, but words are powerful especially when a child is encouraged to use his/her own. Talk on 🙂
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To begin a day reading such an awesome post is great! Parents should print it and stick it in their wardrobes 🙂
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What a good idea Uday!
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love, love, love this article. So true. I told stories to my children. Never thought of them telling stories to me. Excellent advice.
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The encouragement to tell stories is so important for young people (and adults!) One of the great gifts my parents gave me was that they did have us tell stories, and us kids all worked together to craft stories.
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An absolutely wonderful post. Good job.
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Great ideas. Unfortunate that all too often parents or other caregivers are seemingly trying to find ways to prevent children from telling stories.
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I totally agree with you there Kaine.
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So true…
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Posting this on my Facebook page!
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[…] Why You Should Encourage Your Children to Tell Stories (ryanlanz.com) […]
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Reblogged this on joanbarbarasimon.
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Yes. Yes. Yes. Great post. Thanks. The gift of story telling is a life skill all kids should be encouraged to embrace. I read my kids awake in the morning, and asleep at night. And in between we tell stories to each other—in the garden, on long car rides, cooking dinner. Now I’m off for my weekly session working on writing projects with the kids in my sons class. Share the power of storytelling!
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[…] Ryan Lanz had an compelling blog this week. It was all about letting your children tell you stories. I never thought much about this angle of story telling before but it sure is a great idea to let your children’s creativity and genius start as early as possible. Kids love to hear stories and they love to tell them also. I remember playing with my youngest daughter and she imagined a whole world out of Littlest Pet Shop. Those were stories. Now she is a writer. It’s exciting to think her roots began in our play time. Here is a link to Ryan Lanz’s blog. It’s very thought provoking. https://ryanlanz.com/2015/05/06/why-you-should-encourage-your-children-to-tell-stories/ […]
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Excellent advice.
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Awesome advice to all to follow! Kids love to tell stories!
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This is brilliant. I adore when my 4 year old makes up her own little stories – mostly beginning with ‘I had a dream’. We really don’t know if these ‘dreams’ are real or made up. I’m definitely going to encourage this more often. Thank you!
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[…] to retell what really happened can encourage new ways of being able to express oneself. This is described as a benefit of a writer whose mother encouraged storytelling as a child. In addition to language skills, and […]
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[…] you want to take this time to focus on creativity, consider impromptu storytelling. Not only is impromptu storytelling a great way to make your child an active rather than a passive participant in storytelling, it also […]
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