Our life itself is a complete story that begins with birth and ends when our soul leaves our body. The full story tells a life that goes through various ups and downs in life. Over time, each life story becomes a historical novel.
When our own life is a complete novel with an unknown number of pages, then it is obvious that the stories will influence our personality and our lifestyle. It has been known for centuries as an important part of wisdom, personality development, healing, and spiritual growth.
Considering the importance of storytelling for child development, psychologists have cited immense ways in which it has supported a child’s physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. Since time immemorial it has been recognized as a vehicle for shaping a child’s life. It is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to instill values and virtues in a child.
Many people are unaware of the importance of storytelling, but the truth is that it directly influences the way a child thinks, speaks and behaves. A child’s actions and words are also controlled by the morals and values conveyed by the stories.
There are several types of stories that impart different values and meanings. Today, stories have become an important part of children’s education that all schools and institutes are promoting by seeing their positive effects on children’s growth. Reading and telling stories in school helps improve children’s vocabulary skills and helps them gain control over a particular language.
In the early days, the Victorians introduced fairy tales into early childhood education because these stories were found to stimulate a child’s imagination and power of thought. Since then, fairy tales have been a favorite with children of all ages. There are moral stories that teach life lessons to children and also help them cope with different life situations. Stories based on mythology are considered the wisest stories from which children absorb virtues and ethics. Traditional stories are a great way to pass on traditional beliefs and values from one generation to the next. Then there are fun stories that entertain children and bedtime stories that help them get a good night’s sleep. Similarly, there are several other types of children’s stories that directly or indirectly influence a child’s entire life.
Storytelling can be the perfect medium for imparting life’s lessons and making a child more socially and emotionally competent.