Benefits for Parents and Grandparents From Telling Stories To The Kids We Love
While the benefits to children of hearing and participating in storytelling have been well-studied and well-documented, we have found less written about the benefits to the storyteller, which for our purposes is the parents, grandparents, and other caregivers in those children’s lives. This is a shame, because, in our personal experience of sharing and creating stories with our children, there are intense positives for us to enjoy. These become all the more obvious if they are first pointed out and then contemplated amidst the routine practice of storytelling.
Both of us have told stories of all types to our kids for many years. Here are the top 5 benefits we have experienced for ourselves. You may find others. If you do, please contact us and let us know so that we can include them in future posts.
Creates Connection: This is and always will be number one for us. This is time spent giving the children you care about 100% of your undivided attention and them feeling, absorbing, and reciprocating this attention. It creates deep and lasting memories and connections.
Fosters Understanding: You will likely find as you get into a family storytelling routine with the kids you love that you start to know them a lot better. Through the questions they ask, the story elements they propose, or the types of stories they request, they many times reveal what is on their minds. They may inject elements of the way they see themselves, like personality traits and interests, into their main characters. They may inject elements of the way they see you as the adults in their lives into the parents or other adults in the stories. They may reveal their hopes for the future for their lives, ambitions, and ideas in their characters. We have repeatedly seen our kids share what they are afraid of or nervous about through the topics they request the stories be about. Or it might be as simple as them sharing events that are happening in school and social circles in how they add prompts to the narrative.
Enhances Creativity: As adults, many of us routinely deal in the mundane. Modern industry has most of us increasingly specialized in niche topics that we spend hours each day being “experts” in. It helps our cognitive functioning to do non-work-related creative exercises, which can then allow us to bring that creativity back into professional problem-solving. Storytelling helps us expand our perspective. Especially telling creative stories with our kids can help us reconnect with our childhood wonder and the idea that anything is possible.
Boosts Curiosity: All of us, as children, begin life as very naturally curious beings. It is how we learn about the world around us. It is the reason that “but why” is a favorite question of the 3-5-year-old set. Over time, some of us remain very curious. And for others, curiosity declines. It is similar to a muscle in that if we don’t exercise, the performance diminishes. Participating in a storytelling routine can be a very rapid way to re-ignite your curiosity because it puts you on the hunt for sources of inspiration to fuel your content.
Improves Our Communication: If you get into a routine of constructing a narrative to entertain and teach the children you love, you will very likely find that you become a better communicator in other areas of your life. All of us, whether in the professional or social setting, when we are speaking with other adults, are at our most engaging when we communicate what we need to share through story. There are entire industries (marketing and public relations agencies) and businesses (consulting, education) that coach both companies and individuals on how to improve their storytelling capabilities to get ahead. Here you are doing self-development work and the advancements will likely be observed by those around you.
