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Why do we tell stories?

Updated: Mar 6



1. Triggering and developing children's experiential capacity is more important

today than ever before. Children's imagination is increasingly stunted due to

passive consumption of internet and television. This is reflected in the fact that children are

often difficult to excite, motivate, and engage. We often talk about spoiled,

saturated children, but what we mean is the inability to naturally experience.


2. Telling stories not only leads children to experience but also stimulates

imagination. Stimulating and developing imagination means enhancing the creative

power of the young. Lack of imagination often causes boredom and a lack of

connection.


3. Telling stories stimulates and develops the basic functions of the soul (feeling,

senses, reasoning). Who can today put themselves in the place of others,

understand their problems, their difficulties, their situations - that is, feel empathy,

share in suffering?


4. When telling a story, the child learns contemplation. This is a condition for

devotion. When watching television, videos, etc., the opposite happens. Images

change very quickly so the child does not have time to contemplate and reflect on

them.



5. When listening to a story, the "depth" of the listener is activated. This means

that images arise within them. This represents an enrichment of consciousness

and, therefore, of the forces that act outward. The listener learns to express

themselves better verbally. It also signifies an increase in ideas, insights, thought

connections, etc. This all naturally applies first and foremost to the storyteller

themselves!


6. Telling stories and listening allows for identification with the characters, events,

and situations described. Young people - and even more so children - resemble

this. They become "one" with the people and events of the story.


7. Identification contributes to the formation of identity. The child needs models

with whom they can compare and align themselves. Later, it is about the

agreement between the gained image (of oneself) and the real self.


8. Through telling stories and listening, the relationship of "you" is awakened,

strengthened, and developed. This leads to the recognition and perception of the

other individual, the interlocutor. In this way, selfish behavior is limited, corrected,

and gradually reduced.


Tips for Telling a Story:

A good storyteller lives in the story and maintains tension through:


  • Simple language, direct speech

  • Voice: speaking, shouting, whispering...

  • Natural and not overly exciting movement

  • Comparison to highlight important things

  • Pauses: pause for reflection on new ideas

  • Simple questions

  • Eye contact: each child should be able to see the storyteller's face.

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