I don’t claim to be an international authority (just a household one), but after a few years of telling bedtime stories to my kids, here are some pointers for you to consider that have worked for me.
- Settle the kids down before telling the story. A bedtime story has two objectives:
- First is to fix their attention on something fun, interesting, and preferably positive right before they go to sleep, so that they (just like adults) can take their minds off of the activities of the day like school work, sports, play with friends, etc.
- Second, is to make them drowsy and ready to go to sleep…if they aren’t settled down, it will be harder to get them drowsy.
- Be animated, but keep your voice low. Otherwise you defeat point #1 above. You’d be surprised at the range of volume and animation you can get, by still keeping your voice low the whole time.
- Don’t try to fit too much into one story. Keep the stories at about 4-6 minutes. It’s quite okay to continue stories on for weeks. Lyla and Bendle continued on for a couple of years.
- Not to belabor the point, but there is no question in my mind that storytelling is an important, unique opportunity to – as a parent or guardian – have a conversation with children that allows you to impart to them your beliefs, values, and other ideas you hold dear.
Bottomline: Storytelling is a great teaching time and I encourage you to use it to weave in the things that are important to you – whether it is respect for others, balance in life, spiritual belief, curiosity, courage…you name it! Have fun!!
The BroadBrush Update 