Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Bedtime treats

Blissful story sessions at bedtime

“In a dense forest, there was a castle. The castle belonged to a princess named Sarah who could talk to the animals living in the nearby forest…..”

And, that was how Timberland came into being one rainy night. It was Sanjay’s way of persuading his daughter Harshita to go to bed. Ever since, every night, Sanjay has been taking Harshita through Timberland, for an amble.

Says Sanjay, “It is a fictional place populated with imperial princesses living in pink castles, docile rabbits that munch on chocolate bars, deer that can play the flute, majestic tigers and lions that perpetually crave crunchy potato chips, and so on! Harshita is crazy about the place and its inhabitants. It is mandatory that I tell her tales of this place, every night. If she falls asleep during the story-telling session, she makes sure I continue the story the next day”. An animated Harshita pipes up, “I love listening to my dad talk like the animals; especially the proud lion and the buck. Sarah, the beautiful princess, who wears pink clothes, is my favourite”.

Many of us have been a Harshita at some point in our lives. Every night used to be an adventure in itself, with our parents unlocking an entirely new world, by reading out bed-time stories to us. Stories like Cinderella, Snow White, Panchatantra and the Jataka tales continue to enamour children and encourage them to lead imaginary lives filled with ‘all things bright and beautiful’.

Not only kids, 20-year-old Swati still enjoys the experience. She says, “I love listening to my grandma conjure up wonderful tales, whenever I visit her at my native place. Spooky tales with haunted castles, barbaric witches and wizards and dark knights have always enchanted me!”

Psychologists say bed time stories are a great practice. They in fact prefer if the grownups made up stories to tell instead of just reading from books. They say that such stories help in improving the child’s creativity and in widening his horizon of thinking. Creating rhythms and mimicking the characters during the narration of the story will have a greater impact on the child. Bedtime stories can comfort the child’s ruffled mind. Storytelling is a great pre-reading activity. Stories aid children in letting their imagination run wild and those that have morals in them can be used as tools, to teach children value-based lessons.

Children especially love storeis of their parents’ own childhood. They particularly enjoy hearing about the scraps their parents got into. Radhakrishnan, who is in his late 70s, enjoys recounting stories to his grand-daughter. “I have been narrating stories to her for the past 15 years – stories from Malgudi Days to my own creations that were crafted such that they ended quickly! My grand-daughter still enjoys listening to the tales revolving around my childhood days in the village. I enjoy taking a stroll down that lane, myself”.

Bedtime stories are great for parent-child bonding. It brings them closer emotionally. “Whenever we don’t feel sleepy, my parents and I sit down and exchange stories. Such times are fun and I look forward to them”, says Swati.

One can never substitute the thrill, the drama, the anticipation and the comfort the act of story-telling brings along with anything else.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail