10 Stories Worth Telling Kids About Themselves
“Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story. ”
A great place to begin storytelling with your child is by using narratives about their life experiences. Self-stories can be about the child’s birth, what they were like as babies, or silly things they did that made you laugh. Children love to hear stories about themselves. They revel in the silliness, giggle at their shenanigans, and bask in the love they feel as they listen to you recount your memories of them. They love to be the hero in their stories and they get to experience it through your point of view. As with all stories, remember to consider your child and what is appropriate for their age and personality. For a further look at other non-fiction storytelling types, check out our previous post here.
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Stories about how the child came into your family are an easy and tender way to start telling “self” stories. It is the beginning of their story, and yet, unless they have been told it, they likely don’t have any recollection of the events. Just as every child is unique, so is every birth/adoption story. When telling these stories remember to keep the age and personality of your listener in mind. Focus on the love and anticipation the family felt while waiting for their arrival. Was the wait long? What was the reaction of their siblings? Did something funny happen on the day of their homecoming? Tell them the stories about their arrival into your family.
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Children are very curious and they often want to know why. Why did you choose their name? Did you name them after a person whom you admired? Who was that? Why them and not someone else? Did you name them for the qualities you hoped they would possess? Did you have a dream about it? Did their siblings name them? Were they almost named something else? Why did they not get that name? Tell them the story of how they got their name.
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Having kids is a messy business. And if your kids are anything like mine, the bigger the mess they made for me to clean up, the funnier they thought it was. Here you can include their grosser stories about bodily functions like dirtiest diapers or getting sick in the car. You can also playfully convey anecdotes about how they threw their first foods on the floor or the time they got into the pantry and spilled a bag of flour across the kitchen floor. Playfully exaggerate how long it took you to clean up or how many times the cleaning needed to be repeated until order was restored.
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Was there a time when your child was badly sick or injured? Maybe they were hospitalized? Telling these stories can demonstrate times in their life when they overcame something big. They can teach us why we need to take care of ourselves with proper precautions and treatments. These stories can also help illustrate that even though bad things happen, oftentimes they get better.
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Milestones are the stages of development children reach as they grow. The markers that doctors and parents look for in their children can also contain wonderful story opportunities. Did your child hit a milestone way too early? Did they start walking before you were ready? Tell them about it and how you felt. Were they so late in doing something that you began to worry, only to be surprised with how great they eventually were at the activity? Did they talk early, often, or not at all? What was their favorite word? Your child will likely want to hear these stories over and over again.
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What was the child’s personality like as a baby? Were they cuddly, or did they prefer to watch the world? Were they afraid of strangers, or did they flirt with everyone who would give them attention? How are they still like they were as a baby? How are they different? What surprised you about their temperament? Is there a funny story that sums up the way that they still engage with those around them? When did they start displaying their unique traits? We joke about how my son started moving at conception and has yet to stop. Tell them about their most common dispositions and the moments that illustrated them best.
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Everything is new to a baby, so tell them about their first encounters with the world. What was their reaction the first time they touched grass … did they avoid it or try to eat it? The same question for sand … did they love the beach on the first day or were they scared? What was their first taste of sugar like? Tell them about their first birthday. Did they have a smash cake, did they enjoy it, and how messy did they get? Or you can explain how they reacted to their first vaccine. Did they ever have a memorable reaction to a new toy? Tell them about their firsts that they may not remember.
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Every child has something they strongly dislike. Did they hate to get messy and so refused to finger paint or eat with their hands? Were there foods that they would not even try? Were there toys or activities, that kids usually love, that they rebuked? An example from all of my children was coloring. All I wanted from each of them was to sit and love filling in the coloring books I bought them. But all four of them preferred drawing their own pictures. My failed attempts to get them to color have led to great stories and some good laughs today. Think about things that your child absolutely refused to do and how you adjusted to their tastes or how they eventually changed. These stories often lead to a good giggle.
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Just like stories about things they hated, stories about things they loved can be vastly entertaining. Did your child love to dance to any music that was played, or did they have a favorite song that was sure to get them bopping? Was there a song they asked you to sing every day or a book they asked you to read over and over again? Was there something you did that could always get them to stop crying? Did they have a stuffed animal that they used to drag everywhere? Was there someone in their life that they adored and would snub others for that person? Tell them stories about the first things they loved.
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One of the best ways to organically initiate telling self-stories is by looking back at younger pictures of the child. Explaining why you took the photos and what you were doing together at that moment in time can deeply strengthen the bond between you and your child. A parenting hack that works for me is to have us look at the pictures on my phone when we need to kill some time, like in a restaurant, doctor’s office waiting room, or airport terminal. It keeps them entertained, with something besides YouTube or video games, and we get to reminisce while we wait.
