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Home
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In Those Days, In This Season
Stories
by Kaila Kohn
Since time immemorial, parents and teachers have been using
stories and parables as a teaching medium, as a pleasant way
of inculcating good moral values. Children listen wide-eyed
to a good storyteller. In fact, they listen eagerly to a
mediocre storyteller, too. Stories are the sugar-coating on
homilies, and can be used as rewards for anything from going
to bed on time to finishing set work at school.
There used to be a series of cautionary tales in rhyme which
were absolutely hair-raising. Of a girl who was burnt to
death because she played with fire, of a boy who had his
thumbs cut off for sucking them, amongst others. [Nothing
very tame about Snow White, either.] Older readers might well
remember the book, Shock-Headed Peter. It is doubtful
whether a tale of a boy who refused the same soup day after
day and subsequently died would really influence a child's
eating habits.
In England, decades ago, children read numerous stories like
"Little Red Riding Hood" or "The Three Little Pigs" to
improve their vocabulary and their reading skills. By now,
most Jewish schools are more discriminating and do not think
that fairy tales are suitable reading matter. Unfortunately,
some Jewish books for younger children whose reading skills
are not very well developed present a vocabulary that is too
difficult and also too stilted. Nevertheless, parents can
read these stories to the children and just change some words
as they go along. In fact, children will probably prefer
Mother's narrative alongside the illustrations.
It is wiser for parents who tell or read stories to children
at night to choose a story with a happy ending. Furthermore,
some say that they should not be too exciting, although
others disagree and say their children fall asleep in spite
of the most hair-raising stories. A dreamless sleep, with
never a nightmare? Perhaps, but, still, at a certain age
children have numerous nameless fears and it is unwise to
tell scary stories at night. To some children, especially
those under the age of seven, it is unwise to tell
frightening stories at all. They identify with the hero of
the story and suffer terribly with him. As a young teacher, I
was frequently moved to see large tears flowing form some
wide eyed children when they heard the story of Yosef, for
example.
At the end of the story, children will ask, "Is it true?" If
you are one of those fortunate people who can invent stories
and serialize them to continue for night after night, or
lesson after lesson, the answer will probably have to be, "It
could be." Stories of gedolim abound, stories which
depict generosity of spirit, humility, caring about others,
moral courage etc. are all true, as are stories from history.
If a teacher wishes to improve a certain character trait
among his charges, he will have no trouble in finding stories
to illustrate his point.
There is a definite art to story telling. Unfortunately, not
everyone has developed this skill, but perhaps they could
learn. There should be much facial expression (body language)
and the voice, too, can be used to great effect. The weekly
parsha should be told in small installments every day,
rather than once a week, to the younger classes. The children
will enjoy the stories all the more and certainly remember
them better.
Very young children often choose the same story night after
night, week after week and even longer. Woe betide the father
or mother who varies the story by even one little word. The
youngsters know the stories by heart and rejoice in the
constant repetition even if they do not understand the whole
story.
Many books nowadays, which claim to be for the Jewish public,
are nothing more than regular fiction novels, with the
characters having Hebrew names. They are not all suitable for
our youngsters to read...
Stories are a powerful medium, so parents must make sure,
especially when children are older, that the content is
suitable reading material.
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