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The Importance of Stories

Be a Story Teller and Your Child
Will Be Language Rich

One of the best ways
to help children develop language
is to talk about your day
or tell stories
about yourself or your child.

Event Stories – Talk About Your Day

When children see one parent telling another, “You’ll never believe what happened to me on the way to the store,” they begin to learn the magic, fun and purpose of stories (Burns et al.,1999).

Some ideas to get you started talking about your day

Talk about everyday activities you do with your child:
“Remember when we went to the grocery store?  I wanted to buy some apples but when we got there, we had so many choices it was hard to decide.  First, we looked at the green apples and I thought too sour! Then we looked at the red apples and you said…”

Talk about family events by telling a story:
“When grandma came to visit she was so surprised to see how big you were. She said, ‘Oh boy, you grew up!’ Then you giggled and came to me and whispered in my ear.  I laughed because your whisper tickled my ear.  You pulled me closer and tried whispering again…”

Talk about what happened to you during the day:
“Today at work I was getting ready to have lunch when all of a sudden…”

Your Life as a Story - Tell Stories About Yourself

You are fascinating to your child.  They want to know all about you. Tell stories about growing up.  Your child will be a captive audience and have fun learning language.

Some ideas to get you started sharing your stories:

Learning to ride a bike: 
“When I was little I wanted to ride a two wheeled bike but my big brother said that I was too small. So I went to my mom and said…”

School Memories:
“When I was 5, I was so excited to start school.  I remember going with dad to the store to buy my school supplies.  I could not wait to get new crayons.  I wanted a box of 64 crayons but I only needed to buy a box of 16 crayons so…”

Your best friend and what you liked to do together:
“I had a friend named Anna.  She was my best friend.  We did everything together.  One day…”

Stories About Your Child - Tell Stories About Your Child's Life

Children love to hear stories about themselves.  Stories help them remember actual events and stretch their imagination.  To start a story about your child rely on the old tried and true “Once upon a time there was a little boy/girl named ____”.

Some ideas to get you started telling stories about your child:

Tell stories about your child as a baby or toddler:
“Once upon a time there was a little boy named Ben.  When he was born he was just the right size. Every day Ben would wake up and look around. He wanted to say ‘I am hungry!’ but he couldn’t talk so he would cry.  Ben’s mommy would come into the room and scoop him out of the crib and say ‘What’s wrong Benny?’  Ben would stop crying and look around with his big brown eyes…”

Make up stories with your child as the main character and using details from real life:
“Once upon a time there was a little boy named Ben.  He lived in an apartment with his mom and his sister Suzie.  Ben had a stuffed animal named Roger.  One day when Ben woke up Roger was gone!  Ben looked on his bed but he couldn’t find him.  Ben went to his mom and said ‘Mom where is Roger?’  Mom said, ‘I don’t know Ben.  Maybe Roger is hiding. ‘ So mom and Ben went hunting…”

Make up repetitive phrase stories to help your child learn information
You can help children learn important information by creating a story.  Here is a story idea for learning a home address. Substitute your own family names and address as you tell your child the story.  Have fun rapping out the address to a clapping beat.

“Once upon a time there was a little boy named Ben.  One day he walked up to his mommy and said, ‘Mommy where do we live?’ 

Mommy said, ‘Ben we live at 202 5th Street.’
Ben said, ‘Oh yah’ and began to rap:

202, 202, 202 5th street
202, 202, 202 5th street

Then Ben went to his daddy and said, “Daddy where do we live?”
Daddy said, ‘Ben we live at 202 5th Street.’
Ben said, ‘Oh yah’ and began to rap:

202, 202, 202 5th street
202, 202, 202 5th street

Then Ben went to his sister and said, “Suzie where do we live?”
Suzie said, ‘Ben we live at 202 5th Street.’
Ben said, ‘Oh yah’ and began to rap:

202, 202, 202 5th street
202, 202, 202 5th street

Then Ben went to the dog and said “Rover, do you know where we live?”
Rover barked and Ben rapped:

202, 202, 202 5th street
202, 202, 202 5th street

Be a Story Teller (Printable Version)