We Tell Stories

I remember the day my son saw a frog for the first time. His eyes were wide, his smile even wider. He was two and a half, and to describe the new amphibian wonder he included words like “sleeemy” and “gweeen.” When we got home, he ran straight to his dad, bursting with excitement. “Dad! I saw a gweeeen fog!” And with each question my husband asked, my son told his story, weaving his tiny, magical world into words.

Children learn very quickly how to tell a story. It is their way to connect with us.

Story telling is a child’s way to make sense of their world, their people, and their own selves.

Stories build the context and foundation for learning. Stories build curiosity for new things and can create histories of becoming, of victories, of the never-give-ups. It is a part of our development and growth.

Sadly, somewhere along the way we’re told that our stories are too silly or that they’re wrong. We begin to believe that our stories aren’t for us anymore. We begin to believe that our stories don’t matter and that maybe our silence means more than our voice.

We need to defend this right of storytelling for children.
We need to remember that our stories never left.
We need to tell our magic to the world.

Stories reveal our identity. They reveal a diverse, intricate, delicate, vulnerable and incredibly beautiful world around us. They reveal the hidden magic, the undreamt wonder and the best friend we’ve waited for our whole lives. They invite others to relate, to connect and to understand. We learn empathy, we learn kindness and we learn that our humanity is connected no matter how different we all may be.

Story telling is the voice of our heart that says ‘I matter and what I have lived and experienced is true.’