Fairy Tales

(How Stories Affect your Children)

When my eldest daughter was a little girl of three years, she asked so many questions about almost anything around her. One day, she cried in one corner of the house which made us all wonder why she was crying so bitterly. I took her outside the house for a walk. As I carried her in my arms she was hugging me tight that it puzzled me. However, with gentle persuasions she opened up and I learned why. She feared for our lives. It alarmed me until she asked if there is something we can do to ‘stop the mill under the sea from grinding more salt,’ I was relieved.

Bedtime is story time for our kids when they were small. The night before, their father told them a story about how the sea became salt. We never thought the story will bother her. So, we went under the Palawan Cherry as I answered her many queries related to the ‘mill’ in question. She kept saying, “Ahh.” while we talked until she suddenly asked, “Ma, where do all those water come from? They keep on running… they’re crying!” Interesting! I beamed at the girl and she pointed to me the flowing canal water with eyes so sad as if sympathizing with however she conceived it to be.

Definitely, we know that these canals are the wider passageways of the dirty waters that come from the little gutters of every home, establishments, offices and other areas within the locality. When these canals are well placed and without obstacles for the water, the water will have moved on fast as it drains itself towards the rivers or another bigger and much wider duct. The continuous flow of the water in the canal makes it appear to be like tears for the little children. How is it so? Hahaha! Only these little children can make up imageries out of the ordinary stories similar to the fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers or that equally touching for them as those written by Hans Christian Andersen. However, fantasy (romanticism) and reality are poles apart.

I smiled at her allegory even as I explained where all the flowing water came before they reached us. I also told her where the water will ultimately go. She listened wide-eyed and without interruptions.

Yet, children are children. Their simple hearts need only love and an anchor. This I saw when she countered thus, “Ahh, so the river is the mommy of all these waters? That’s why they’re crying because they miss their mommy.” I just hugged her as she expressed her childish sympathy to the dirty waters. Soon, she asked for milk and reality took over. While I washed the glass she used she tugged at my skirt and said, “Ma, do we also have the duct that drains the water towards that canal?” I smiled and her laughter rang… She has been listening to my explanations, after all.

The bedtime stories we choose for our children affect their behavioral growth. Whether we like it or not the belief that ‘children grow up with the bedtime stories they hear’ is true. When I asked my daughter lately how she was affected by that story about the mill she laughed and said, “Wow, of all the tales that you and Daddy ever told us, that made me remember to be considerate with others because… Hahaha! The selfishness of that one person made everyone in the village suffer too. Did you know that I spent some nights sleeping late for that because I was so afraid that the whole earth will be covered with salt? Thanks to you and that canal… It blew out my fear… remember?”

That was that! There are groups who say that children exposed to bedtime stories are easier to discipline. Moreover, paying attention to the tales develop their listening skills and creative faculties. Above all, the message in the stories of the parents (popular or thought up as the case demands) easily reaches the heart of the kids… they will understand the lessons easily than that taught with a stick or a pound of sarcasm.

Keep on with the storytelling time. The children will love to reminisce the times when you took them to the far away lands of beautiful princesses, handsome princes, dainty fairies, noble knights, and vicious goblins. Let them keep it in their heart as you both treasure your time together.

The picture above is from Google Home Images.