Telling stories to children is above all an art of distraction . A story is fundamentally a work of art and its mission will run along the paths of the artistic. Its function in the process of life is to provide joy, being that joy that produces the awakening of the spirit to the beautiful, allowing to admire the beauty that exists in man.
A story told is much more spontaneous and attractive to children than one that is read, and consequently the flow of sympathy that develops between the narrator and the child is much faster and more intense than when the print of a book comes between. both.
When you are immersed in an interesting story and you tell it, the child takes advantage of the story and is enriched by your personal appreciation ; the story comes to him enhanced with your own enjoyment, so any funny story is a hundred times more fun on the lips of a good storyteller than on the pages of a book or magazine.
All these advantages that the narrated story has should be, for the parents, a sufficient reason to tell the stories instead of reading them . The vast majority of children prefer the telling of a story to reading it, even a representation does not have the same charm for them as a person capable of telling a good story.
Why is this fact? The answer is very simple: the difference is that the narrator has total freedom of interpretation ; instead, the reader is seduced with the book in his hands, listening to each of the words. The narrator, on the contrary, is not limited by anything, he gets up, sits down …, he is free to observe the child, to follow the text or modify it, as well as to use his hands, his eyes, his gestures and his voice to better aid your expression.
Different types of stories
- Fairy Tales. They are all kinds of wonderful adventure stories, even though many of the times fairies do not appear in the story. We have to tell fairy tales, firstly because children like them and secondly because they are useful, since they present the truth through images, and the world of children assimilates the truths in this way. Even many of these tales reveal to us the ugliness of evil and the beauty of goodness.
- The burlesque tale. Children like them a lot, their main value lies in the relaxation that humor produces. Behind its apparent plot of absurdities it hides a moral content most of the time. An example of this type of story would be thumb.
- Parables of nature. They can be used to transmit to children a series of knowledge about a subject, such as stories about animals and plants instead of men.
- The historical account. A good historical account brings to life the concept we have of past events and brings the child closer to its protagonists. These stories will sometimes have to be adapted to children. Historical stories give the child a feeling of reality towards historical events, provoking the desire to emulate the noble acts narrated in them.
Storytelling is no longer solely relegated to nursery school and is admitted in all grades, that is, in all places where children are still children.
There is no doubt that through stories we bring the little ones closer to reading, we make them fall in love with it and love books. Reading is the best gift you can give your child. With reading we develop their emotional and intellectual intelligence.
In my more than 20 years of teaching, I have always tried to convey to my students my admiration for reading, and tirelessly I continue with it.