Talk to Your Children in Stories: The Little Letter Series: Delights of the Ordinary No. 57 (S2)

Tell them the stories about the homes you grew up in, the uncomplicated, ‘non-gadget-y’ life you lived.

#TheLittleLetters is my new series where I send you tiny letters of little learnings as opposed to long-form essays. They may help you gear back or throttle up but I promise most of them will be positively wise.

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When you sit with your children talk to them in stories.

Photo by Marcus Wallis on Unsplash

Tell them the stories about the homes you grew up in. The kind of uncomplicated, ‘non-gadget-y’ life our generation lived compared to today’s supersonic-technological-verve.

Tell them about those random dusty streets you played in, the many times bruised your knees red cycling on that tough tarmac road but also zipping through the bounteous wind! Tell them about the lesser stuff you owned the more decadent you were. Tell them that dried leaves make funny crunchy sounds and the wind murmurs if you can closely listen.

Tell them to somewhat believe in fairy tales because they can give them some tight thick hope to imagine against the life odds. Because when they will grow old, sooner or later they will realise that the world is not a picnic nor a grand party. It is callously competitive and makes you corroded, too soon, too early.

Tell them the stories that living a perfectly normal life may also mean imagining and innovating and becoming positively ordinary in our outlook and accepting the changes as swiftly as we can. 

Each age has its own struggle. The struggle in our generation is the constant companionship of screens of various dimensions. To scroll reels, watch a film, and gape and gawk into AI-generated pristine lives. In our every moment, we can watch some screen to cut off from the reality never having to confront the difficult.

The scientific knowledge will soon take over them. They will know that the sun is a fierce ball of gasses, and the moon doesn’t shine on its own. But if you will talk to them in stories now, they will grow up appreciating the world in wonderment.

Hence it is our responsibility to give them the stories of life’s true experiences which are freely found in playing in the mud, splashing the rainwater and then wondering why stars twinkle, and why the moon shrinks too soon!

We do not always want data analysts and coders around us. We also need those who can tell stories of ordinary things and complex-defeating shifts in their lives and still feel positively confident about it. 

Let them have enough time to explore, find answers in delight and astonishment, and then be ready to face the crumpling weight of external pressures and internal expectations.

To End:

Sharing with you one of my favourite British illustrators Charlie Macksey, who is the author of the book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, published in October 2019, and has spent over 100 weeks on the Sunday Times Bestsellers List top ten. Here you can find his book (link).

Pic Credit: The Grapevine Works.

Pic Credit: The Grapevine Works.

And lastly, the poem:

About My Dreams by Hilda Conkling

Now the flowers are all folded,
And the dark is going by.
The evening is arising …
It is time to rest.
When I am sleeping I find my pillow full of dreams.
They are all new dreams:
No one told them to me
Before I came through the cloud.
They remember the sky, my little dreams,
They have wings, they are quick, they are sweet.
Help me tell my dreams
To the other children,
So that their bread may taste whiter,
So that the milk they drink
May make them think of meadows
In the sky of stars.
Help me give bread to the other children
So that their dreams may come back:
So they will remember what they knew
Before they came through the cloud.
Let me hold their little hands in the dark,
The lonely children,
The babies that have no mothers any more.
Dear God, let me hold up my silver cup
For them to drink,
And tell them the sweetness
Of my dreams.

Untill next week may you have peals of silly laughter with your children or nieces or nephews and tell them many-many stories.

Have a healthy and fulfilling week,

- Anugrah

Delights of the Ordinary

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Delights of the Ordinary is for us who are trapped in the world of hustle culture but are quiet at heart with an itching creative bone. This newsletter intersects culture, art, science, and philosophy with our practical 9-5 job space.

Who am I?

Hi, I am Anugrah. I write Delights of the Ordinary for us who are trapped in the world of hustle culture but are quiet at heart with an itching creative bone and love for life. My newsletter intersects culture, art, and inner health in our practical 9-5 job space. Feel free to share. You can know more about me here and here.

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Delights of the Ordinary currently is a free publication. Yet it takes me many hours of effort to write and curate it. I may need lots of coffee to keep me going. You can :)

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Stumbled on my publication? Explore all my previous editions here. And in case you don’t wish to spend time browsing then complement this post with The Antidote for Self-Doubt, We Imagine Because We Are Living or read about Decision Fatigue and Our Creative Life.

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If you ever feel like dropping in a message or a comment, do not hesitate. We all can only thrive in people. We can be those ordinary creative beings who can change the world. You and me.