image via telegraph.co.uk

A good storybook is never a bad idea.  Fairy tales about kings and queens and princesses being rescued from high towers are always a favorite.  Girls in red capes and boys climbing up giant beanstalks are a classic.  But in all the many nights of the year, you could easily run out of these brief tales of adventure.  The books and stories can be recycled, yes, but a child’s memory often does not allow you to repeat bedtime stories again and again.  Reruns are virtually only good for cartoon shows.

Oftentimes, you might just have to wing it and come up with a bedtime story of your own.  You can conjure a plot as you go along (you won’t even know then ending until you reach it), or you can have a rough outline of events already in your mind and just keep spicing it up between “Once upon a time…” and “They lived happily ever after.”

Make Sure To Have a Point

The good thing about telling stories is that you can get a point across to a child without having to be overly condescending.  You can teach obedience without involving guilt, and you can encourage better character and performance without making your little brother or sister guilty.

Customize Your Story

Think of the day’s events.  Was someone disobedient? Did some little girl not eat her cereal?  Did some little boy fight with another little boy across the street?  The plot is staring you in the face.  There is no better way to end the day than summarizing the events that took place and making clear the lessons to be learned from them. If there are sibling rivalries, you could start off with a couple of young princes and princesses who don’t ever stop fighting with each other. They are consequently punished by a certain fairy and locked up in separate dungeons. A dragon could come in midway through the plot, or you could improvise and make it a dinosaur instead.  Whatever magical creatures may appear, always make sure to deliver your point at the end of the story.  Make the characters realize their faults and resolve their conflicts before you let them “live happily ever after.”

Integrate it (If You Want)

You could always choose to have a little discussion afterwards by connecting and explicitly comparing the story with the actual occurrence earlier in the day.  Start off by saying, “So try not to quarrel with each other all the time. Learn to share. Because when you do bad things, other worse things can happen.” And then do a dragon face – or a dinosaur growl.

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