August 24

[The Story Teller]

August 24
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Bedtime Stories
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“Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
—Proverbs 22:6
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An important ritual that is performed in thousands of American homes each night is responsible for how many of us think and dream. That ritual is the bedtime story. After crawling under the covers, children listen to stories told to them, usually by a mother or father. Then, with the story fresh in their minds, they slip off into dreamland. Most of those popular bedtime stories are actually morality fables, which originally were developed to teach youngsters right from wrong or to inspire them to lead upright and productive lives. They served as a technique that enabled parents to pass along values to their children. The most ancient of these were taken from the Bible or were stories based on Aesop’s fables. One particularly popular bedtime story is “The Little Red Hen.”



In “The Little Red Hen,” a wise hen decides that she wants to make some bread. However, before she can bake it, she must grow the grain. When she asks the other barnyard animals for help, each has something else to do. She asks for help in weeding the garden, harvesting, milling the grain, and baking the bread, but no one will help. Finally, after the hen has done all of the work herself, she asks “Who will help me eat my bread?” and all of the animals volunteer. She tells them that because they were too lazy to help her with any of the other tasks, she will not let them eat the bread. Through stories like these, American children for hundreds of years have been taught the importance of hard work and self-reliance.



Consider This: People are not born with good character and integrity. They must be taught those attributes by example and through stories.



Submitted by Richard