Making Up Bedtime Stories For Your Kids

Posted on March 25, 2008

The Guardian (U.K.) has an interesting article that encourages parents to write or just make up their own bedtime stories to tell their children, instead of reading to them from actual books all the time. The goal is increase the child's imagination and creativity, but also to get an idea of how the child is doing emotionally.

A well told, individually tailored bedtime story can help children acknowledge the emotions triggered by their day while bringing into focus the happiest thoughts they have had, he said. 'Making up bedtime stories will create our own legacies for our children.'
Some of the most popular children's books began life as tales told by parents to their children. Watership Down, Richard Adams's first and most successful novel, was based on a collection of tales that he told to his young children during trips to the countryside. The book, which was turned down by 13 publishers, is Penguin Books' best-selling novel of all time and has been turned into an animated film and a television series.
Cole, who estimates that he has told his own children more than 3,000 stories, began making up tales when his children demanded a bedtime story on an evening when there were no books nearby. Making up stories can, admitted Cole, be intimidating. 'It's all right to have butterflies in your stomach the first time you try this,' he said. 'Telling your own story is more involved, and often puts you on the spot. But whether it starts off as a smashing success or leaves you with a smashed ego, your children will grow to love the stories you create together.'

For exhausted parents who don't have the writing gene, we recommend that you just skip this article and go back to reading books to your children at night. Some people are natural born storytellers and find making up stories easy. Others wouldn't even know where to begin. But if you happen to be married to a screenwriter or author, well, you know who gets bedtime story duty tonight.