WHEN THE CHILDREN TELL YOU STORIES

“My dear sweet little Billy Goats, there is not enough sweet green grass on this side of the river. Let us cross the Troll’s bridge to the other side of the river to eat the sweet green grass there.”

These are the words I said to the nursery school children as we began our end of the year performance of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. As their teacher, I played the role of the mother Billy Goat and they played my little ‘Kids’. In coaching them to perform I would have one instruction, Stay with the Story.

What a happiness there was for both teacher and child when we could tell a story together. These plays were grand tellings. They took place before an audience of proud parents. Afterwards, the children bowed with smiles and the parents smiled with claps.

The Small Stories

But un-grand tellings produced equal happiness in me. For instance, I would often tell stories using felt pieces at group time. Then I would let the children use the pieces to tell their own versions of the story. I remember once telling the story of the Three Little Pigs and having a four year old boy who often got into trouble saying at the end, “but the wolf was really a good wolf.”

Free Form Story telling

Creating opportunities for the children to make free form stories with toys was an important part of their free play time. I would say, ‘let’s make up a story’.

‘Once upon a time’ and then the children would choose a toy and the story would begin. I would prompt them saying, ‘What happened next?’ or ‘How will it end?’ For younger children I would contribute parts of the story content and we would work out the story together.

The Achievement

There is a feeling of achievement for human beings in creating and telling stories. Perhaps in the old times, stories kept us alive. You might have shared a wolf story to have the child steer clear of wolves. Now, stories keep both adult and child alive in another way. They speak to balancing our emotions and our hopes and dreams. This balancing is particularly important for young children who have limited ability to use logic to think and plan. But all of us are young children in certain parts of our psyche.

Six years ago I retired from teaching young children. It was a difficult time in my life and often in my mind I would repeat the beginning words of the Billy Goats Gruff play:

“My dear sweet little Billy Goats there is not enough sweet green grass on this side of the river. Let us cross the troll bridge to the other side of the river to eat the sweet green grass there.”

The image of the children and I in our Billy Goat ears and tails crossing the Troll’s bridge to get the sweet green grass would instruct me with hope of nourishment and fine places to come. I would remember myself and the children smiling and bowing and then I would feel glad.

Author: Rita Grimaldi (A member of Peterborough Storytellers)