When Naia was born, I couldn't wait to tell her stories. Unfortunately, I could never get the feedbacks of interests from her. Well, I always thought maybe because I wasn't a good storyteller. Most of the nursery books are in English and since I spoke to Naia consistently in Bahasa Indonesia, I thought Naia wasn't interested because she couldn't understand it. I thought maybe because the story is not good enough or maybe because I shouldn't be telling stories yet, since she was still too young. So I started with book of words. And since Naia was still breastfed at the time, I could never put her to sleep while reading her stories. All she wanted was just being breastfed to sleep. So I gave up!
Then I read an article while browsing through the internet (unfortunately, I didn't keep the link) that storytelling is the most powerful activities you have in developing kids' brain and imagination. Whether if the story is told from the book or from parents' imagination, children need stories. I didn't get it at first, until I weaned Naia and started to put her to sleep by telling her stories on things I know and how it relates to her daily activities.
I realized that it's not the act of reading that's important, it's also the content. As Naia grows older, she understands stories. I can tell because she now can sit still for almost the entire show of animated movies like "Up", "Madagascar", "Finding Nemo", and so on. She just couldn't stop watching them and asks them to be played over and over.
Most of parents these days, would just do things as easy as turning on the TV to entertain the kids. Hey, that's why they invented the Disney Channel, right? But do you know that what do kids are eager to get from the TV? Storytelling! Most of the shows are about telling stories as simple as an activity about going to bed. Now you wonder why your kids are glued to the TV? It's their cravings for their daily dose of storytelling and whether you give it to them, they'll get it from somewhere. Don't you want it coming from the sources you trust and you can control? Like.. err, yourself?
With many hats we have to wear being a parent (a cook, a singer, and so on.. ), we also need to think of ourselves as a storyteller. The story can be as simple as about the act of going to school, or even about ourself, just tell it in a simple children's words. They need stories and they are interested in hearing them because of these reasons:
- It helps them understand their place in the world
- It helps them to become socially proficient.
- Storytelling can be the perfect way to impart a life lesson.
- It helps them to cope whenever they are faced with difficult situation or experience
- It's the most powerful tool to strengthen the bond between the parents and their child.
I find that I can send good messages by telling Naia a story when I put her to bed or when we visit the zoo or when we hangout during the day. A simple story about a frog who is happy going to school. Or about a fish who gets caught by a fisherman because he wouldn't listen to his dad's instruction (sounds familiar?). Or something along the line. And I find that I can tell it better and she was at awe the most when I told the stories from my own experiences or my own imagination than from a book.
So now every night, just after she finishes her bottle of milk, Naia gets up to her bed, gathered all the toy dolls around her then she asks.. "Mama.. critaaa.. ". Then I tell her story.. till she falls asleep...
"... si Kodok pun berenang di dalam air. Terdengar teriakan dari Fish, Turtle & Snail.. bergembira melihat si Kodok yang bisa berenang.. yaayyyy.... !! ..."
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Mb Shinta,
numpang ijin share yaa mb.
Saya terinspirasi untuk membacakan cerita dan memberikan buku sebagai hadiah yang berharga kepada si kecil, karena seringnya nimbrung di TUM.
dan saya berharap, semakin banyak mom mom hebat di luar sana, juga seperti saya, tertular virus menyadari pentingnya buku...
:D
shintaaaaa maaap...kok khilaf nih aku. ralat: TFS ya Shin!:)..(kayaknya gue sebelum komen ini lagi inget2 mau komenin thalia deh..hihihi)
@liz: books are nice, but i must admit, TV is not always bad. i learned english better from tv back then, tapi sekarang mesti hati2 banget, mesti ada parental control gitu ya.
@ninit: aww.. thanks, nit! iya dia emang seneng ama buku, ama liat2 gambar gitu. ternyata di sekolah pun sering ada session storytelling, gurunya sampe bilang, naia tuh selalu yang paling nyimak.. even if the storytelling is told in mandarin! :)
@otty: gakpapa ty, gak mesti sebelom tidur, yang penting dia tertarik aja ama gambar dan lain2. kita pun juga ga mesti baca, just tell the stories aja, with different intonations, etc. just to get him excited and get his attention.
@winda: can't help it, tar kalo si anak udah mulai bawel, mau gak mau. karena kita gak mungkin cerita dengan bahasa yang complicated dan intonasi yang lurus. jadi mesti belajar deh jadi storyteller :)
@dini: hahah gak papa dongg.. bagus berarti reena udah tertarik. naia juga dulu nonton finding nemo bisa pagi siang malem gitu, sekarang sih udah banyak pilihannya, malah bisa milih dvd dan nyetel sendiri. tapi tetep kalo kita yang ceritain dengan intonasi dan gaya cerita kita, dia juga tertarik. that's more important!
@toto: kalo ada yang bilang gitu, berarti gak bisa baca! :)
@sukma: sebenernya my point is that, gak mesti baca buku, tapi the act of storytelling is more important. tapi juga story yang diceritain jangan teralu melenceng dari yang ada, tar si anak malah bingung. reading book to kids is nice, to get them excited but storytelling encourage their imagination. btw, kok jadi 'Thal'? ini shinta loohh yang nulis.. heheh..
@medy: yup, my point exactly. cerita yang diceritain tanpa baca itu jauuuh lebih seru. just like when you listen to a speech, if read pasti bosenin banget. kadang kita gak mesti bener2 baca, just to act out biar dia interested aja cukup. they would refer to the books mostly for the pictures, until they can read themselves.
@gamma: mesti storytell dengan intonasi. kalo perlu ngikutin suara binatang, ato berubah2 tiap karakter. kalo bisa bikin si anak attentive untuk ini, bakal gampang banget ke depannya kalo mau coba ngambil atensi anak loh :) thanks ya! naia emang selalu nyimak kalo buka buku.. itu makanya gue nulis artikel ini karena kayaknya kalo kita lagi ceritain ke dia, dia kayak ngebayangin sendiri dan imaginasinya jadi runs wild gitu. bagus buat anak seumuran dia, karena bikin dia jadi eager untuk pengen tau. mudah2an farzan juga ya!
artikel yg baguus..ngingetin bwt gw lebi konsisten bwt ngadain storytelling session ke farzan.so far gw suka ngajak crita pk clothbook,ato buku dongeng anak gt. dg umur dia menjelang 1yo gini,emg dia ud kliatan 'nyimak'nya..mau nanya, klo bwt umur sgini, storytelling ga (selalu) pk media story book, trus gmn caranya get his attention ya?
btw,suka bgt tiap liat foto anak kecil serius nyimakin pas dibacain crita..naia pinteeerr.. :)
Ah..jadi inget dulu plg seneng kalo alm nyokap cerita sebelum tidur. Ceritanya ngarang sendiri dan asik banget. Sekarang nyoba storytelling pake soft book sejak Chaca umur 4 bulan, eh malah digigit bukunya..ha..ha.. Yo wes lah..ntar gedean dikit dicoba lagi.TFS Shin...