Friday, April 25, 2008

Family Stories

I'm not sure how it started exactly. It may have been after I read Ron Rose's book "7 Things Kids Never Forget: And How to Make the Most of Them". He suggests telling kids stories, including stories about themselves. I would make up fanciful stories starring whomever I was telling the story to. It may have been my mother who started it, by telling the boys stories about me and my brother and sister when we were kids.

No matter how it started, Jonathan and Jackson love to hear stories about silly things that have happened in our family. My brother is a favorite topic because he was known for doing foolish things as a teenager. My sister, on the other hand, does not star in many stories because she has always been the cautious and reasonable one.

Every night at bedtime Jackson asks if I have a story. Jonathan usually wants me to repeat it for him. One of their favorites is the "Cat Bomb" story as we call it. They laugh every time no matter how often they hear it.

Several years ago in their old house in Camden, Gran and Granddad had a mouse in their house. They could not catch it. As far as we could tell, there was just one and he was a fat and happy one. He got into the garage and ate birdseed and decorative corn. At night he would sneak into the house and eat dog food and cat food.
One weekend Aunt Jen and I were both there and we were sitting in the living room talking to Gran when saw the mouse run behind the large bookcase in the living room. We hatched a plan to get rid of the mouse. One of us would hit the back of the bookcase with the tip of a broom and scare the mouse out of hiding. Another one of us would stand at the end of the bookcase with the cat. (A small, aging, house cat.) When the mouse ran out, the cat would be dropped onto the mouse. (Brilliant, huh?)
Well, the noise scared the mouse out and we all screamed, the cat was totally freaked out by all the banging and screaming and being dropped and she ran in the opposite direction of the fat mouse who scurried back to the garage.

The point of that nonsense is this: tell your kids your stories. They will love it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

I'm a health writer for msnbc.com, and I stumbled across your blog while researching for a story I'm writing.

It's about a new study on birth order. Basically, researchers have confirmed what older siblings have always suspected -- that parents really DO let their younger brothers and sisters get away with more.

Do you and your siblings have any stories like that? Let me know if you'd like to chat with me over the phone -- should only take 10-15 minutes, and it's sure to be a fun conversation! E-mail me at melissa.dahl@msnbc.com if you're interested.

Thanks so much,
Melissa Dahl

Anonymous said...

Susan funny story. I am with you. I would have thought that was a great idea.

SG said...

I keep trying to call you but you never answer..so you call me! :)