Stories From The Heart

I was in a three year old room last week and the children were all stretched out and snuggled into their reading “cozy corner.”  Each one had a book that they were looking through either by themselves, with friends or with their teacher.  Perfect, I thought.

I sat on the floor with the group and said hello to all.  I am a story teller and the children are used to me sitting on the floor with them and telling the story of The Three Little Pigs.  This is a crowd favorite.  With lots of movements, switching up voices from piggies to the wolf, huffing and puffing and dramatically building different houses the children love the story.

But today I asked if I could read one of their books because they were reading their books.  They said “no” they wanted to hear my story of the Three Pigs.  A little guy came over to me, hugged me, looked into my face and asked me to tell the story from my heart.

A story from my heart is one that I know by heart.  As adults we know this phrase to mean that you know something by rote; no books, no literature, no guides.  It is just yours, you can tell it by yourself.  It is part of you.

But children hear this differently.  They hear the story from my heart.  And something from my heart is loving and kind.  My heart is the center of goodness and honesty.  We hug with our heart, we feel with our heart and children know that if a story is told from my heart I don’t need anything else except them.  They are all that I need and together we are part of the little pigs’ adventure with the big bad wolf.  They love it.

I love it more.

Tell stories from your heart to your children.  When you are sitting next to them tell them a classic fairy tale or make a nursery rhyme into a little story.  Tell them the story about the day they were born, a favorite picnic you were on, a story about their neighborhood or your best friend.   They think you are the best story teller in the world no matter what.  Don’t worry about the length of your story or the plot or characters – children love the sound of your voice.

Make story telling from your heart a place to introduce children to the people in their family that are generations past or live far away. Stories are funny, spooky, long, or short.  Stories have made up characters, dogs that talk and birds that ice skate – because the story is yours it can be anything.  All you need is your little one and a hand to hold.

Yes, books and literature are exciting, interesting, important and fun.
But you and your stories matter so much more.  Share stories from your heart.
You and your children will love it.