Bedtime Stories for Children

Storytelling has long been a way to put young children to sleep at night. It has been something enjoyable for both children and the parents. Unfortunately, when I first tried to tell my children stories, I was never able to tell stories in such a way that they would beg me to come back and tell some more. In fact, my children would either play like they were already asleep or they would ask for their mother to do it. Here are some of the ideas that I found helped me in being a better storyteller.

• Keeping it simple. I found myself, early on, making stories too complicated for my young children. I was trying in my own bumbling way to make a saga that could rival "Star Wars" in their minds. What I didn't realize at the time was something pretty basic. The younger a child is, the simpler the story should be. Basically what this means is that I needed to keep in mind that the younger the child was, the simpler the story needed to be.
• Practice is the key. Just as if I was giving a presentation at work, a classroom dissertation, or some other form of public speaking, I needed to practice. If I was going to read a story to my children at night, then I needed to at least have a familiarity with the story's peculiarities. This would help me to understand what the particular pace was for each story, so I wouldn't go stumbling along. If I was going to be doing one from "the top of my head," then I should think it out before hand. It didn't matter which method of story telling I was going to be doing, when I practiced, I sounded more polished and comfortable.
• Story pace. For those stories that I would make up I needed to make sure that the action was fairly constant, and that the story was not stagnant. This entailed that I did not get bogged down in trying to explain things, unless I was asked for details. If I was explaining things too much, story time ended up being more like lecture time.
• Repetition is good! In the cases where children ask for you to read or tell a particular story again, and again, and again, and again—well let's just say that this is not a bad thing. What this means is that your children like how you tell a certain story, and want you to do it again. They had fun, and would like to repeat the experience. It is just like when you go to see a movie again, or buy it for repetitive watching, it's because you have found something that is enjoyable.
• Keep stories relevant. The stories you tell need to be about things that are relevant to your children, just like with any form of entertainment. Since this is entertainment, don't be afraid to get into character. Use the funny voices, the weird faces, or whatever. This makes things more interesting for the children, and shows that you are willing to be a little "silly," just like them.