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Table of
Contents
Chapter 1-- The Power of Storytelling Chapter 2 -- Identify
Your Messages Chapter 3 -- Find
Stories that Deliver Your Messages Chapter 4 -- Personalize
the Stories for Greater Impact Chapter 5 -- Deliver
the Stories Chapter 6 -- Welcome
the Characters into Your Life Appendix A –
Sample Messages Appendix B – Awards & Honors for Whootie Owl’s Stories to Grow By Appendix C -- A Selection of Fairytales from Whootie Owl’s Stories to Grow By Storytelling! You couldn’t ask for a more enjoyable way to inspire your child to absorb positive messages such as courage, caring and compassion. It’s fun to tell and read stories -- children love it, and you’ll love it, too. What’s more, by immersing yourself in storytelling with your child, you’re bound to deepen the relationship between the two of you. Stories that express positive messages for children are widely available in bookstores, libraries, on film, and on the Internet (though be careful!). [see side bar on the award-winning web site, Absolutely Whootie: Stories to Grow By.] What you may not realize, however, is that you can provide your child with stories that deliver far more impact than any stories you may find in ready-to-use formats such as books, film or audiocassettes. What I am proposing is that you supplement stories written by others with your own, personal stories. That you find stories with positive messages or themes from your childhood memories, your everyday experiences, or from your own imagination. The thrust of this book is that your personal stories, because they are targeted and customized for the delight of your child, will pack more punch to that child than the finest classical fairytale. This book outlines the simple steps you can take to follow the extraordinary road of the world’s most powerful (and enjoyable!) tool for character education – storytelling. Meet Whootie Owl (a side bar)
The ever-friendly Whootie
Owl will be your guide throughout this book. Appendix B contains a sampling
of honors and awards received for Whootie Owl’s web site and for Whootie
Owl’s series of audiocassettes. In
Appendix C, you will find six complete fairytales from Whootie Owl’s story
collection. Enjoy!! Chapter One – The Power of Storytelling
Tin Man:
“What have you learned, Dorothy?” Dorothy:
“Well, I think that it wasn’t enough just to see Uncle Henry and
Auntie Em. And if I ever go looking
for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard,
because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with. Is that right?” Glinda: “That’s all it is.” -- The Wizard of Oz If you are agonizing over
your children’s behavior, you’re not alone.
Parents worldwide are challenged to get across to their children the
importance of positive behaviors such as cooperation, caring, and
compassion. In a fraction of a
second, children can spot a lecture coming and are quick to mentally retreat,
leaving behind a blank expression that every parent recognizes. What’s a parent to do? Fortunately you already have the answer to your heart’s desire and it waits to be discovered in your “own back yard.” Whootie Owl and I invite you to rediscover a powerful way to communicate with your children that, like Dorothy’s secret to returning home, you “never really lost to begin with”. Come explore the power of storytelling.
An Ancient Treasure In
these days of “virtual-this” and “electronic-that”, there are those who might
dismiss storytelling as a relic of a dusty, bygone era. Yet storytelling thrives, unchecked, in
modern culture. Modern Signs that Storytelling is Alive & Well: ¨
Advertisers’ sales pitches (“Before I used the product myself...”) ¨
Speech openings (“Let me begin with a story about...”) ¨
Broadcasters’ frantic don’t-turn-the-dial moment (“Come
back for more on that story after our commercial break...”) Among children, storytelling commands an even stronger and deeper hold. Indeed, children clamor for stories with almost the same insistence as they demand attention, or snacks! Transfixed by Stories Parents worldwide will attest to the phenomenon that is children and stories. Opening a story with, “Once upon a time...” or “Many years ago…” focuses young eyes which, just a moment ago, had been aimlessly darting along the ceiling. A child turns his or her full attention to the teller of the tale. The sense of concentration is palpable. Even anecdotes about incidents in everyday life beginning with, “Here’s a story I heard today you might like…” or “Did you hear the story about…?” can bring dangling and impatient feet to a halt mid-swing. As a Girl Scout leader, I was once transporting a station wagon full of raucous 7-year-old Brownies. Three times I stopped the car to reprimand the miscreants for fighting, yelling, throwing, hitting, but to no avail. Then I slipped into my car’s cassette player an audiocassette of fairytales. Instantly, everyone was quiet. The would-be hooligans remained utterly still . . . until the story ended, at which point they again burst into mischief. The next story on cassette began. Once again, a hush replaced the bedlam. One Might Wonder: Why do stories mesmerize children? In fairytales, it’s undeniable that classic story lines -- the triumph of the youngest child, the tackling of three impossible tasks, the glory of a troubled romance set right – are enormously satisfying to children. Bruno Bettleheim says in his book, The Uses of Enchantment, that struggles such as these demonstrate that if one meets hardship, one can “master all obstacles and at the end emerge victorious.” In addition to a grand finale, fairytales also provide enchanting qualities of magic and fantasy. Yet stories drawn from everyday episodes in modern life can be equally riveting to children. Story openings such as, “Did I tell you the story about your crazy Aunt Agatha, who threw the whole town into a tizzy the day when…” or “Here’s a story about your Grandpop Bobby, who bounced you on his knees all day long…” capture a child’s attention because the child knows or has a relationship with the main character of the story. Whether a story is born in the world of fantasy or whether it is derived from real life, stories and anecdotes deliver a consistent pattern (a beginning, middle, and end) that feels safe and familiar to the listening ears of children. After a story has begun, a child can safely anticipate that when the tale ends, there will be a satisfying conclusion – whether it’s a victory of the main character, a joke, a surprise, or a solution to the story’s dilemma, all will end well. Add to those factors the experience of hearing a story – that is, the voice of a storyteller, the impact of direct eye contact, the entertaining quality of hand gestures, facial expressions and reactions to events in the story, not to mention a child’s physical proximity to the storyteller, and it’s not surprising that children are drawn into the telling of a tale. H The sheer fact that stories successfully capture the attention of
children creates a significant -- And
Largely Unrealized -- opportunity for parents. Youngsters often respond defensively to parental instructions, yet those same children welcome essentially the identical ideas when delivered through a story. One can almost watch the path of a story as it winds past the natural defenses standing in readiness to protect a child from criticism, and travels freely and unfettered toward a child’s heart and soul. As a parent, which scenario do you prefer? A face-off with a child whose expression dares, “Whatever-you’re-selling-I’m-not-buying it!” Or a scenario whereby you’re delivering exactly the same message to a child whose wide-eyed expression urges, “Really? Tell me more.” While we can agree that stories are a powerful conduit, stories do not necessarily deliver positive messages in and of themselves. In fact, stories can as easily deliver negative messages, and often do. To conceptualize how your storytelling can bring positive messages home to your child, Whootie Owl offers this image:
“The
Storytelling Express” Imagine for a moment, Whootie Owl urges us, that a story is a form of transportation, a kind of express train. Its contents may be fresh, crispy apples – or it may be cartons of explosives. The contents that are loaded onto the “Storytelling Express” at the beginning of its journey will determine what is delivered when the train reaches its destination. As a parent, your role is to load stories that deliver positive, healthful messages for delivery in the ears of your child. In this book, Whootie Owl will show you exactly how to find such juicy stories.
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Whootie
Owl is the latest (greatest!) in a long line of wise old owls.