"Reading your child a bedtime story-or making one up yourself-has so many benefits, but there's one that is often overlooked: Bedtime stories create powerful narratives in your child that you choose. (For more on narratives and why they're crucial for parents to know about, see this post.) How stories become narratives Children's stories affect kids on an emotional level. For instance, let's take the common absent-parent-returns-home story."
"This story is always some version of (1) a parent leaves; (2) the child feels alone, scared, sad, worried, etc.; (3) the parent returns; and (4) all is good again. That's it. That's the story. Yet the story is powerfully appealing to children because all kids naturally fear being separated from their parents, especially at bedtime. When the story is read again and again-which is often the case with bedtime stories-the repetition of a returning parent becomes a reassuring narrative."
Bedtime stories shape powerful, reassuring narratives in children through repetition. Repeated storylines, such as an absent parent who returns, normalize separation and reduce fear. Stories offer emotional distance that helps children tolerate and process difficult feelings. Bedtime moments make children especially receptive to feelings expressed through narrative. Repetition converts story content into perceived reality, so repeated readings reinforce safety and return. Parents can use stories as entry points to address emotional struggles and to further explore feelings with their child before separation at bedtime.
Read at Psychology Today
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