“Will you play with meeeeeeeeeeeeee?!”

Stuck here in the winter with a new baby and a toddler, I was pretty desperate to find something that would keep the toddler entertained while taking care of the baby — not to mention ways to keep myself fairly sane in the midst of the sleeplessness of babyhood and the confines of winter.

Sure, there’s TV shows and a good dance party. But those are so modern — the TV is barely 100 years old. What were mothers doing with their toddlers 102 years ago? I wondered. What about 1,000 years ago? What are the timeless tools of parenthood for the millions of toddlers through history who have been cooped up in bad weather or dark or whatever else?

Well, there is one answer that’s pretty obvious — storytelling.

Probably every culture throughout all of time has involved stories in some way, and more often than not you see in those cultures mothers telling stories to their children or fathers to their families.

So, I started telling stories to mine. It’s not nearly as hard to make up stories as one would think (and it is probably really good for my brain!). I just ask my two year old who the story should be about and what happens to them (So last time I got: Bears, they fall down) and I can just run with it from there. It’s actually a lot of fun!

I have also told her a few Bible stories and rather than just telling her, “You know, once there was a guy named Jonah who didn’t obey God,” I have started telling the whole story in a storytelling way (this isn’t to take away from reading of the Bible which, as God’s Word, is infinitely more important than just the stories themselves). She loves it and remembers the examples I am giving so much more!

Waiting around a doctor’s office, sitting in a boring car, and waiting for baby brother to finally be finished eating have all been made way better with storytelling. Three bears have found some honey and jam, her stuffed animals made some cookies, and we have seen what feeling hungry feels like through the eyes of a baby.

I can’t wait to bring this into a family day and experience sitting around a fire (or, you know, our very modern living room) and having each of us tell stories after dinner. We’ll have to let you know how it goes!