Our much-loved storytelling evening returned this week, as part of our ‘Be Healthy – Sleep Week’. Dressed in Pyjamas and cuddling their favourite bedtime toys, the children arrived and settled down for an evening of tales. David Bowen, our Director of Cultural started the evening, theatrically telling a story to all, accompanied by his bongo drum. He enthralled the audience with a Caribbean tale that, very appropriately, emphasized the importance of a good night’s sleep! Then it was off to night-time ambient classrooms for some further stories told by teachers and volunteer storytellers, together with a cup of milk and a cookie.
Bedtime stories offer a superb opportunity to establish a daily routine. Parents and children often live extremely busy lives. There are many responsibilities that must be attended to throughout the day, such as work, school, chores, errands, extracurricular activities, homework, cooking, and similar types of events. Once the day has calmed and is approaching its end, children and parents alike can be comforted by the fact that they get to spend a little quality time together. In addition to this, children benefit greatly from some sort of daily routine in their lives.
Reading together is also an important element to a child’s success in reading and creativity, and a time in which parents and children can spend enjoying each other’s company, and sharing love for one another. It is a process in which many special memories are created, as well as a time when children can pay special attention to the story, the characters, the plot, and the lessons that can be learned from the story that they are listening to.
Our storytelling evening was a great success and we hope that it will have inspired all of our parents to continue to incorporate bedtime stories into their child’s life.
