Storytelling: Everyday Playbook

Points clés

• At bedtime, use the three-try story: someone wants something, fails twice, succeeds on the third try and ends somewhere safe.
• Swap before you ask: tell a thirty-second moment from your own day, then ask about one moment of your child's day.
• Before a big change, tell a true time-I story with its hardest part and what helped, then ask your child a question.
• When children's versions of a quarrel clash, retell each one in their own words and check it before you decide anything.
• When asked to say a few words, give one moment, one sentence on what it showed and a wish, in about ninety seconds.

À l'intérieur de ce bit

1. When bedtime comes and there is no book

   Sooner or later a child asks for a story when the books are packed, the lights are off or you have read the same one forty times. The play is the three-try story, a frame you can fill in half asleep.

2. When 'how was school?' gets 'fine'

   How was school asks for a summary of a whole day, and summaries are dull to give, so children say fine. The play is to swap first, then ask for a moment.

3. When a big change is on its way

   Moving house, a new school or a new baby can worry a child who has never faced that change. The play is the time-I story: a short, true story about when you faced something similar.

4. When two children tell two different stories

   Two children, one toy and two completely different accounts: every parent knows the scene. The play is to retell before you rule.

5. When a long wait needs filling

   Traffic jams, office queues and long bus rides arrive with bored children and dying phone batteries. The play is one sentence each, a story built in turns.

6. When you are asked to say a few words

   Birthdays, weddings, farewells and school events all produce the same request: would you say a few words? The play is moment, meaning, wish.