Storytelling (Update)

Asalaam 'Alaikum:

Just thought I'd let you know how things went with our first storytelling session.  Well, for some reason the girls loved it a lot.  They thought it was cool that the characters I talked about were a lot like them in character and personality.  I actually had their full attention the entire time – which surprises me because when reading books they get totally frustrated if we don't have pictures to look at.  Even when we do have pictures, my youngest usually toddles off looking at other books and is easily distracted.  Not this time.  Masha'Allah – that isn't even the great thing about the storytelling . . .

After I told my story, my oldest said "Momma, I have a story I want to tell too."  Well, her story was a bit silly – but you should have seen her eyes light up that all attention was on her.  She animatedly told us her whole story and wanted to tell another – but I decided one rule is that each person can tell one story each night, insha'Allah.

Well, after she told her story, my three year old wanted to tell a story.  Essentially, she just told a rehashed version of her sister's story (but something like that is sure to help her with comprehension skills until she is able to actually come up with her own stories).  I was amazed at how much she remembered of her sister's story, masha'Allah.  She also enjoyed having everyone's attention – she was even blushing, masha'Allah.

So, I guess this will start a new routine at night.  The sweet thing is that all day today my oldest kept saying, "Oh, I have another story to tell you."  I guess you could say that it was a real hit in my house – my kids already love books but they seem to love this telling story thing even more, alhumdulilah.  Who knows, maybe I have budding writers on my hands.  Whatever the case, I truly enjoyed sharing such a nice moment with them, alhumdulilah.
Asalaam 'Alaikum,

Sumayyah Umm SAA