A bedtime story is a traditional form of storytelling, where a story is told to a child at bedtime to prepare the child for sleep. The bedtime story has long been considered "a definite institution in many families".[1]
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The term "bedtime story" was coined by Louise Chandler Moulton in her 1873 book, Bed-time Stories. [2] The scholar Robin Bernstein traces how the "ritual of an adult reading out loud to a child at bedtime formed mainly in the second half of the nineteenth century and achieved prominence in the early twentieth century in tandem with the rising belief that soothing rituals were necessary for children at the end of the day. The ritual resulted from and negotiated diverse phenomena: not only the growth of the picture book industry but also the spread of isolated sleeping in which children occupied individual bedrooms, the expansion of electricity and heating systems that shifted evening reading beyond the hearth to other domestic spaces, and a bevy of newly crowned psychological experts who persuaded parents that children needed bedtime rituals. "By the middle of the twentieth century", Bernstein writes, "the ritual had acquired acute symbolic meaning. Parents’ reading to children at bedtime became a metonym for proper parenting and an idealized middle class childhood."[3]
Reading bedtime stories yields multiple benefits for parents and children alike. The fixed routine of a bedtime story before sleeping can improve the child's brain development, language acquisition, and problem solving skills.[4] The storyteller-listener relationship creates an emotional bond between the parent and the child.[4] Due to "the strength of the imitative instinct" of a child, the parent and the stories that they tell act as a model for the child to follow.[1]
Bedtime stories are also useful for teaching the child abstract virtues such as sympathy, altruism, and self-control, as most children are said to be "naturally sympathetic when they have experienced or can imagine the feelings of others".[1] Thus, bedtime stories can be used to discuss darker subjects such as death and racism.[4] As the bedtime stories broaden in theme, the child "will broaden in their conception of the lives and feelings of others".[1]
Adult versions in the form of audio books help adults fall asleep without finishing the story.[5]
Western culture
editWithin the Western culture, many parents read bedtime stories to their kids for assuring peaceful sleep. Usually, this habit is considered as a way to build good relationship between parents and the kids along with the generation of other benefits. The type of stories and the timing may differ on cultural basis. In western culture, you may find different categories of bedtime stories.
Cultural depiction
editLike any other culture, western bedtime stories are full of the traditional value and stories from the predominant sub-cultures. Mentioning of cowboys and hippie lifestyle is a prominent form of verbal storytelling.
New authors
editWith the ease of publishing and color printing, new authors have become part of the story writing industry where they write new, creative and picture-related stories to keep the audience engaged as presented in a series of children's storybooks written by Arthur S. Maxwell.
European culture
editThe European culture has a vast collection of bedtime stories.[6] They are not only read in the European region, but they are famous throughout the world. This helps the kids to develop their minds and enhance their capability. The European culture of bedtime stories is based on Aesop's fables or Greek fables which are loved all around the world by both the adults and children.
Aesop's fables
editThe Aesop's fables are a collection of fables that were written by a Greek storyteller named Aesop. These fables include different animal characters, providing a moral lesson or a great piece of wisdom for the young minds to understand. As these fables include morals, they are read to children in modern times to teach them ethical and moral values.[7]
The Aesop's Fables originally belong to the oral tradition and Greek people. After thirty years of Aesop's death, these fables were collected and compiled. The work of Aesop was in Latin and Greek which was later translated to different languages, giving more fame to theses fables.
Different Aesop's fables
editThere is a vast collection of Aesop's fables for children to read at bedtime. A lot of them are very famous and very much loved by the children as well as the parents. Some of the many Aesop's Fables are:
- The Ant and the Grasshopper
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
- The Dog and Its Reflection
What's there in Aesop's fables
editThe fables help kids as well as adults to learn the lessons in an effective manner. The engagement and emotional impacts from those stories are more powerful than dry teaching. Therefore, the children gain more ethical values from these types of stories.
Contemporary bedtime stories
editIn the modern age some adults also use bedtime stories to fall asleep. Often, mobile applications are used for this purpose.[8]
Scientific research
editBeing read bedtime stories increases children's vocabularies.[9]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Dickson, Marguerite Stockman (1919). Vocational Guidance for Girls. p. 90–93.
- ^ Bernstein, Robin (2020). ""'You Do It!': Going-to-Bed Books and the Scripts of Children's Literature"". PMLA. 135 (5): 880.
- ^ Bernstein, Robin (2020). ""'You Do It!': Going-to-Bed Books and the Scripts of Children's Literature"". PMLA. 135 (5): 878.
- ^ a b c Jones, Patti (2011). "The Brainy Benefits of Bedtime Stories". Parents Magazine.
- ^ Purdon, Nick; Palleja, Leonardo (27 January 2019). "Canada's top 'sleep writer' reveals how he puts you under (can you stay awake?)". CBC News. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
- ^ Noor, Nauman. "Bedtime Stories To Read". 5 Minute Bedtime. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
- ^ Matilda, Satire (21 March 2019). "The real morals behind Aesop's fables". The Daily Star. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
- ^ "I'm an adult and these bedtime stories are lulling me to sleep". TODAY.com. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
- ^ Montag, Jessica L.; Jones, Michael N.; Smith, Linda B. (2015-09-01). "The Words Children Hear: Picture Books and the Statistics for Language Learning". Psychological Science. 26 (9): 1489–1496. doi:10.1177/0956797615594361. ISSN 0956-7976. PMC 4567506. PMID 26243292.