SECTION II - FAMILY ISSUES

Promoting Pagan Family Values - Selene Silverwind

Promoting Pagan Family Values
by Selene Silverwind
SeleneSilverwind.com

Midsummer is upon us now. A favorite summer activity is camping, and what happens when you go camping? You have a fire. And what do you do around the fire (besides make s'mores)? You tell stories. Storytelling is something of a lost art, but one very much in need of a revival. This issue's PPFV is all about storytelling.

Summer is the time when kids spend all their time outdoors playing in the sun, but we don't want them to forget what they learned in school, so reading a few good books should be a part of every kid's summer plans. Why not make it a storytelling summer? Take your kids to the library and pick out a few age-appropriate anthologies. Ask the kids to read one story a week and then one night each week, they will tell the story they read to the rest of the family in their own words. Parents have to tell stories too.

Is your kid in summer camp or going away for sleepaway camp? If he or she is in sleepaway camp, then you can be assured that they will hear many stories around the nightly campfire. Ask them to bring some home. If your child is in daycamp, volunteer to lead a storytelling session. Kids are natural hams, so bring those anthologies you found at the library and ask them to flip through them on day one. On day two, they can rewrite the stories in their own words. On day three, break the kids up into small groups for practice. On day four, have them make any props they'll need. Finally, on day five, have a big camp-wide storytelling session. Invite other parents to come watch.

If your neighborhood is like mine was when I was growing up, each summer night finds a mob of children riding their bikes through the streets, playing ball until dark, and just generally having fun. Arrange a storytelling night for one of those evenings. Plan to have it in your backyard. Get either a fire pit or light many candles. Have everyone from the neighborhood settle on blankets on the lawn, then share a variety of stories with them. Include a few juicy ones about Gods and Goddesses if you can. The Hawaiians and Celts both had excellent stories. A quick search on the internet should garner plenty of possibilities.

Ah, the summer of stories. It will be talked about for years. But it won't happen unless you get started now!