Story Time is Bonding Time

It’s never too late to learn to be a Storyteller

One of the fondest memories I have of my mother is the countless afternoons snuggling up to her in the sofa while she read all kinds of stories and fables to me.  Through these stories I learned so much about life-skills and different cultures, lessons that I keep on benefiting from even now.  When I became a mother, I was so determined to give just as wonderful an experience to my daughters so they will not be deprived of this privilege and the tradition will live on.  But reality soon hit, and I have a confession to make:  I HATE STORYTIME when I need to be the one to tell the stories!  After a full day of multi-tasking and reaching the last leg of the day’s marathon, not much energy is left in me for bedtime stories.  The stress starts to kick in when I saw my baby all nicely tucked in her bouncer, with teddy in hand and staring at me with those adorable expecting eyes! Not all of us are natural-born storytellers like my mom!  For the brave parents who are determined to master the art of storytelling, there are apps you can download that can teach you how to become a better storyteller!  *sigh* I wish I knew about this when my kids were small.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

It is OK to introduce a bit of variety and let our voice and face take a much needed break every now and then.  Maybe we can consider alternating between “traditional” story sessions and other similarly interesting options.  One obvious choice is to let someone else do the job and go for the storytelling websites such as this one that has a large library of children stories suitable for all ages and read by different people (celebrities in this case, which probably means more to you than to your kids) with different reading styles.  For toddlers who might need less visuals to enjoy and understand the content, podcasts for children could be a good option.  Of course, it is important to choose suitable podcasts according to your child’s age, interest, and personal development.

The evolution of bonding

No matter which method you choose, the main goal is to spend quality time with your baby and create loving memories together.  Using technologies such as storytelling websites or podcasts does not mean you are offloading the task to others.  This is because the interaction between baby and you through questions and discussions about the stories are actually the most important quality time you share.  Now that my kids are older, our story time evolved into a book club of sorts when we would discuss the latest adventure books we have recently read, or they would introduce me to other interesting titles they got to know from school!  Our bonding time continues and soon they will be the ones telling ME stories instead!

Happy Reading and Stay Sparky!