BENEFITS OF STORY TELLING FOR CHILDREN
Story telling has always been an integral part of our culture. We all grew up hearing stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata or Jataka tales. Today when communication skills, social skills, listening skills & cultural sensitivity is termed as 21st century skills; its time for us to go back to our roots and adopt the best and easy way to instil these life-skills in our children.
Benefits of story-telling –
- While lecturing is the most common and boring way to introduce various moral values & virtues in children, story telling stands as the most interesting and impressionable way.
- Its only in the world of stories that imagination is not ruled by science & physics but yet it is rooted to a possible future. Someone dreamt of flying and thats when the planes were made. Stories give flight to imagination & grows natural curiosity in young minds. Definitely a part of healthy upbringing.
- When kids read stories from different countries, long before they could even visit these places, they are positively exposed to their culture and lifestyle. Similarly, it is through our native stories that we can keep our new generation connected and rooted to our own culture and its richness.
- While listening to stories, sharpen listening skill and increases focus, remembering and retelling it sharpens memory, pronunciation and communication skills. All these skills later help children in understanding classroom lectures better and remember it for long. Not to mention the enhanced level of communication and vocabulary building that takes place in the process.
Story telling may not appear to be a very fancy hobby to pursue but its benefits are very effective and long lasting. Difficult to believe but these days even corporate trainings also include Story telling sessions to improve all the above-mentioned skills in their working staff. While on one hand there are International level conclaves being organised for Story Tellers from every part of the world, you never know this can become a bright future for your child as well
Besides that, story-telling sessions can be very effective bonding time between you and your child. Give your child the confidence of public speaking in the most natural way. We come from a nation of story tellers such as Rishi Valmiki & Rishi Vyasa. Take pride in it and make your child share the same.
Author – Ms Nandita Prakash
An educationist with more than 16 yrs of experience of grooming teachers, students and parents.Education Advisor to various schools in Northern India.