There is a growing body of research that shows how beneficial telling family stories is. Not just for children but the whole family. From making the whole family more resilient to helping children’s emotional and cognitive development: there are loads of reasons why you should be sharing your family stories with your kids.
Sonja, the founder of the Storydo family book platform, joins us to give Happity her top tips on how to make family storytelling engaging and fun for your whole family. They have worked with a few dozen families and as many experts as possible to create the Storydo BookBuilder. Here is what they learnt about how families can harness the power of storytelling, and why it’s so great for families to do.
Win 1 of 4 children’s family storybooks from Storydo
Made-to-be treasured storybooks with your child at the centre. Book any class throughout September to enter our booking competition and be in with a chance to win. More info here.
Keeping Your Family Stories And Your History Alive
Young children are fascinated with seeing photos of their mum being pregnant and themselves as a newborn, so my advice is to think ahead, and collect these images, print them out, make an album, or a Storydo baby book. One day, your child will love to look at them and want to know all about them.
Likewise, keep collecting images of ancestors, relatives and important memories. Even if it’s just in an old biscuit tin! These pictures are priceless and a part of who you are.
Why Telling Family Stories Is Great For Babies
We all know just how important it is to talk to babies to support their language as well as emotional development. Besides reacting to their cues, such as facial expressions and naming things they point at, it’s also a great time to tell them how much you love them and how much you want them.
This age is perfect for you to practise your family storytelling. They will love listening to your voice, and make them feel connected. Parents who have important but complex stories to tell (for example, parents through donor conception or adoption) often do this and practice explaining their family history while they’re babies so that it comes naturally and feels normal to talk about these things when they’re older.
Why Telling Family Stories Is Great For Toddlers
Did you know that reminiscing together supports children’s speech development more than looking at books? And it does so much more! It’s at this point that family storytelling becomes so much more important.
It really roots children in their families and bestows them with a sense of pride in their origins.
Top Ways To Tell Your Family Stories To Your Kids
If you’re not sure where to get started or how to get your kids engaged in your storytelling, here are just a few tips!
1. Do You Remember When?
The easiest prompt is ‘Do you remember when…’ and then add a family anecdote. Try and let them retell the story if they would like to.
Pick a moment when everybody is relaxed, in an environment that’s free of distractions. Like when you’re eating together, on holidays, or driving in the car. If something reminds you of an anecdote, make that link.
Or, if you don’t have that opportunity but want to get started, you can just dive straight in. Try starting a few conversations when playing that’s along the lines of, ‘Did you know that your grandmother… ?’ or ‘Can you imagine that when I grew up, we didn’t have mobile phones/iPads/had to take the bus to school…’
2. Use Your Family Snaps
Another great way to remember recent family adventures is to look through the photos in your camera roll, like when you’re on the train or waiting for an appointment. Even better, print out your favourites and put them into frames. Let your children make collages with them, or stick them into scrapbooks.
3. Create Your Own Family Storybook
There’s something extra special about seeing your story in a printed book. It allows us to see it from another perspective, a bit more objectively, which really brings out all the wonderful things and the love and great stuff you do.
You can use a photobook platform, but it’s very time-consuming to do your book from scratch, so we created the Storydo BookBuilder to make it easy for parents to create a bespoke book that tells their unique family story simply by answering questions and uploading photos. All for the same price you would pay for an A4 hardcover book with about 80 pages on the major photobook platforms.
Storydo – Personalised Storybooks With Your Child At The Centre
I have always loved making family storybooks for my family, using all our favourite photos to help kids learn where they come from, and feel incredibly loved. I wanted to help other parents tell their family stories, and that’s what’s behind the heart of Storydo.
You can include anything from grandparents and/or chosen family, meeting your partner (if relevant), your wish for a child, pregnancy, birth, milestones, home, family life, and so much more.
Storydo books don’t just help children to learn where they have come from and feel a sense of pride in their origins, but they also show them love and security, right at the heart of their family. It makes them feel seen, represented and their experience validated. They like to go through them over and over again, each time a great opportunity for more family storytelling.
Our users say that making the book made them feel good about their family, considering it as a cherished keepsake. They are:
- Suitable for all family setups (from solo to blended and everything in between)
- Helps to normalise all family types (solo, LGBTQ+, etc) and can be used as an aid to explain topics such as donor conception, separation or adoption
- But more than anything, our books celebrate all families and make children feel very special
Start your family storybook today
Disclaimer: Storydo are our partner brand for September 2024. This partnership will help us in our goal of connecting more parents with classes and to help find support near them.
Want to get out and about, have fun with your baby or toddler, and meet other parents?
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