It started like this.The other night I told my daughter a bedtime story, and it was the same old stories – the bear, the dog, the pig – over and over again.As a result, she started to pout as she listened, her eyes were red and she looked like she was about to cry, and she said to me in an aggravated manner, “Daddy, why are you telling me this again?”
I realized that I had made a big mistake, and hurriedly coaxed her, my lips were almost dry, and while coaxing her, I secretly looked at my phone to find a new story, and only then did I manage to stabilize the scene with my hands and feet.
After she fell asleep, I lay down on my bed and thought, “This is no good, I can’t keep doing things on the fly.We have to find a way to memorize some new stories, such as which story has been told a few times, how effective, who is the protagonist, suitable for children of a few years old to listen to …… These have to be clearly remembered, otherwise every day to tell the story with the same as the draw blind box, who do not know what will be drawn.
Later I figured out, since the things on the market are not quite right, then I’ll make my own record in a way that suits me.I’m going to organize it by the following:
- The name of the story: easy to find;
- Who it’s told to: kids of different ages like different content;
- Story protagonist: avoid repeating too many animal characters;
- General plot: to prevent yourself from forgetting what was told;
- Children’s reaction: next time I tell it, I’ll know if it’s good or not.
With that in mind, I got down to the business of organizing.The following three stories are the new stock that I organized this time, when I told my daughter she especially liked it, and asked if I could tell it again!
Story 1: The Mouse and the Undeclared.
This is a short story that takes place at night.
It was a quiet night, the stars were yawning in the sky, and the moon was shining lazily on the earth.A big mouse quietly poked his head out of his hole, looked around and found the house quiet, the master was already asleep, the cat was napping in the corner, and the dog had stopped barking.
It smiled proudly, “Hey, hey, it’s my world now!”
It tiptoed towards the house, when suddenly it heard a strange sound, “rustling”, as if someone was moving.He was startled, and hurriedly retracted his head, muttering, “Ouch, is there someone still awake?”
Mrs. Mouse next to him couldn’t help but laugh, “You’re silly, that’s a tumbler, the lady of the house just bought it for the children to play with during the day.”
The rat was still a bit scared, and cautiously went out to take a look, but it was really a wooden man.It pushed the tumbler angrily, “Hmph, dare to scare me?See if I don’t bite you bad!”
The tumbler shook and said, “You bite it, anyway, I am a tumbler, how to push it will not fall.”
The rat did not believe it, pounced on it, and was bounced by the tumbler, fell on all fours, and screamed in pain, “Aigoo!How can you not fall down?”
The tumbler laughed loudly, “Because I’m called ‘tumbler’, stupid mouse.”
The rat was furious, but it pretended to be fine and said, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have touched you.”After saying that, he pretended to walk over.
In fact, it had already thought of an idea in its heart.It scuffed up the table, saw a book, its eyes lit up, and secretly pushed the book down, just in time to press down on the not-so-topple.
“Haha, let’s see if you can still move!”The big mouse happily showed off beside it.
It couldn’t help but be curious and looked down to see what the tumbler had been crushed into.At that very moment, the book popped up and smashed into the rat.
“Ouch, ouch, it hurts!”The rat screamed repeatedly, the sound woke up the owner and the cat.The light came on at once, and the cat immediately rushed over to catch it.
The rat was so scared that it struggled desperately to escape back to its hole.But just as he reached the door, he hit something with a thud – it turned out to be a dog blocking the doorway, looking at it intently!
It was so scared that its legs were soft, was caught by the cat dragged away.Before leaving, the cat glared at the ungrateful man, but the ungrateful man said with a smile, “I advise you not to do bad things, and you will end up hurting yourself!”
Story 2: Black and white swans make friends.
This is a story that happened in a swamp.
There was a group of white swans living there.Their white feathers, elegant posture and clear calls often attracted people’s praise.The white swans felt especially proud of themselves and thought they were the most beautiful birds.
One day, a few black swans flew into the sky.The white swans exploded and talked.
“Oops, how is this color like a crow?”
“Black, how ugly, simply disgrace our swans!”
“We have to drive them away, do not let them live here.”
But I didn’t expect people to be happier when they saw the black swans.
“Wow, black swans!How rare!”
“It’s so beautiful, noble and mysterious, I’ve never seen such a beautiful swan!”
The white swans froze when they heard this.They began to doubt themselves, “Are we not popular anymore?Have we all become ordinary swans that no one likes?”
Just as they were losing their minds, the words of the people came to their ears, “How beautiful it is when the white swans and black swans fly together, in black and white!This is the most beautiful look of nature.”
The white swans were touched and took the initiative to fly over to welcome the black swans; the black swans were also very happy and responded by fluttering their wings cheerfully.
In this way, the black and white swans became good friends.People in the distance filmed this scene, leaving an unforgettable memory.
Story 3: The Clever Crow’s Revenge.
This is an interesting story about a crow and a fox.
Once, the crow was cheated of a piece of meat by the fox and was so angry that he stamped his feet.But the crow was not a vegetarian, and it soon came up with a revenge plan.
The next day, it brought another piece of meat, did not give the little crow to eat, but put it on the grill slowly roasted, but also sprinkled a kind of white powder on the meat.Then it flew to the tree with the meat in its mouth.
The smell of roasting meat floated far away, the fox smelled it, immediately ran over to take a look, and found that it was the crow in the tree with the meat in its mouth, and thought: “Ha ha, here’s your chance, another meat cheating plan!”
So it shouted: “Earthquake!Earthquake!Everyone run!”
The crow knew it was a trick, but still pretended to be panicked and dropped the meat.
The fox picked up the meat and ran home laughing.The little crow asked sadly, “Daddy, how did you let the fox cheat the meat away again?”
But the crow laughed and said, “Wait and see what happens.”
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the fox ran out of the house and rushed to the toilet.One moment he went in, the next he came out, and ran back and forth several times, muttering as he ran, “There must be something wrong with this piece of meat!”
The little crow saw this scene and laughed so hard that his stomach hurt.
It turned out that the white powder spread by the crows was a very strong laxative, and the fox couldn’t stand it!
The crow looked at the fox and nodded with satisfaction, “This is called self-inflicted suffering.”
A little closing thought
After that, I began to organize my bedtime stories seriously.After each telling, I would write down some small details, such as which type of ending my daughter liked, which characters she was particularly interested in, and even when she laughed and when she was nervous.
In this way, I’m no longer afraid of telling repetitive stories, and I’m getting better and better at telling stories.Most importantly, my daughter looks forward to hearing a new story every night, and even asks me, “Daddy, which one will you tell tonight?”
Sometimes I think that not only storytelling, but also a lot of small things in life will become interesting and meaningful if you do them with your heart.And the process of accompanying children to grow up is also the process of re-learning and feeling the world for us adults.
So, if you have children, why don’t you try to make a “bedtime storybook” for yourself, and you might get some unexpected benefits?
