Sharing stories is as natural to human beings as eating and sleeping, says Gogo, the reading granny of Yizani Sifunde.
Gogo says making time to tell your children stories can be fun and satisfying for everyone.
It also lets your children know that you value spending time with them.
Gogo, the reading granny
Storytelling has these other great benefits for your children:
- It is a great way to teach children the life lessons you want them to learn. Great stories allow children to explore and think about things such as love, hate, jealousy, kindness, power, good and evil.
- Storytelling stimulates children’s imagination and their use of language. They will learn more and more words and their meanings. Stories can transport and connect them to the lives of people they have never known, who come from long ago and places faraway.
- Telling stories about your childhood experiences helps your children to connect with you.
- Start with stories that you know. Also, think about which stories will interest your listeners and what is appropriate for their ages.
Yizani Sifunde (Xhosa for “come lets read”) is a community project with Nal’ibali, Book Dash and Wordworks; delivering high-quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) training to communities.
