Once Upon a Time

by Beth Stein

Jack the Monkey, Buck Bear, and Homer the Talking Squirrel went to bed every night with Roddy Story when he was a child.

These weren’t stuffed animals but characters Roddy’s father made up to cast bedtime stories for his young son.

Every night, Jack, Buck, and Homer—one mischievous, one slow but lovable, and the third, smart and resourceful—embarked on another adventure in Memphis, Tenn.

Each time the tale would offer laughter, intrigue, and a bit of wisdom at the end. Big Roddy always let little Roddy fill in some imaginary details along the way.

“I would just wing it,” says the elder Story, a retailer by day. “But I would always sort of know where I was going at the end. There was always a moral.”

Now in college, Roddy Jr. still remembers those stories.

“Storytelling has the capacity to bring families together,” says Lisa Lipkin. The New York-based author and professional storyteller has just written a book titled Bringing the Story Home: The Complete Guide to Storytelling for Parents (W.W. Norton), and she has a website at www.lisastories.com. She explores the value of storytelling, especially today, and gives parents basic tips on how to revive this simple art.

“The great thing about stories is you can tell them while you’re doing something else, like carpooling,” she says.

Even if you don’t feel creative enough to invent stories and characters like Roddy Story did, Lipkin says the everyday stories of your childhood provide intriguing tales. Telling children about your school at their age, your neighborhood, and what kinds of things you played dazzles them. Often when you begin talking about the mundane, a funny or interesting incident will come to mind. Strong memories and the origin of family names often kindle engaging stories, too.

Building stories out of everyday objects is another good method. Children can be involved in this kind of storytelling. For example, as you’re riding in the car, you might wonder aloud what that seat belt might say if it could talk. Then you and your child can invent a whole story around that seat belt. Children love this sort of imagining.

“Stories are a way of communicating that is special,” Lipkin says. “They teach us how to make magic out of the smallest thing. It doesn’t have to be a huge plot line.”

Keeping the story simple, letting the listener contribute, and, when your confidence builds, adding some drama to the storytelling are three good guidelines. If the stories are fictional, children like repetition. Roddy Story used to change voices for the three characters, and he gave each a special noise that his little boy would insert whenever that character showed up. Each and every story began with Roddy saying “Once upon a time, way down in ...” at which point little Roddy would shout with delight, “Memphis!”

“Storytelling is not just for fun,” Lipkin says. “Stories strengthen imagination, they give children hope, a sense of where they’ve been in the world. They build self-confidence and give non-violent solutions to problems.

“There’s no limit to the power of stories.”

Beth Stein is a mother, wife, and newspaper columnist on parenting and women’s issues and is a regular contributor to American Profile.

first appeared: 2/25/2001