Cables replace fables

“Once upon a time...” perhaps is one of the earliest childhood memories we all share.

Our nights were filled with wicked witches, handsome princes and beautiful princesses, the king who had seven wives, the menacing ogre, flying horses and the magical characters of the Arabian Nights, to mention just a few of the incredible stories and fantasies that fascinated us to no end.

We used to hurriedly finish our homework and eat our dinner as fast as possible to rush to bed early, so we could listen to exciting fables, fairytales, folktales and stories unlimited.

The term ‘bedtime story’, perhaps, is as old as the human civilisation. What a thrill it was to listen to our parents, grandparents and elders narrate the stories to us.

“Don’t ask. That was simply the best time in my life,” said Fahima Akhter, 31, a housewife living in Segunbaghicha, recalling her own childhood full of dreams influenced by fairytales and folktales.

“But my four-year-old daughter is always busy with the mobile phone or laptop, playing games or watching fairytale movies. Every night I have to struggle to make her switch off the devices and sleep. There is nothing about reading to in her bed.”

Children in big metropolitan cities are mostly from nuclear families with working parents. After a long hectic work day, the parents are invariably too tired and drained of energy to give much quality time to their children. After returning home, working mothers generally busy themselves with household chores. Handing their children a device is the easiest way to appease them and keep them in control.

“There are lots of animated movies on local and foreign fairytales and folktales. My children watch such movies on the laptop. What’s wrong if no one reads stories to them?” asked a mother Rafiat Wara who works for a private firm.

However, there is much more to storytelling than just telling stories. Storytelling is not only about what the children receive but also how they receive it.

“Such movies (the ones children watch on the net) of course increase visual impressions, but storytelling by the loved ones in the family enhances attachment and bonding, and develops social skills of the children,” observes Helal Uddin Ahmed, an associate professor of the child psychiatry department of the National Institute of Mental Health.

According to specialists, imagination is a powerful thing in a child while growing up. Children define and determine their career, life and future roles through the process of imagination that they develop in their childhood.

Fairytales, fables and folktales include different cultures and their ways of doing things. Thus the children learn about cultural differences beyond the borders, more so through the net.

Such cultural literacy, studies show, instils a sense of curiosity in children, spurs on their urge to learn new things.

Helal Uddin Ahmed says fairy stories and folktales help in development of a child’s imagination and steps up their abstract thinking. “This eventually helps them to differentiate between the good and the evil, love and hate, and thus gives them better understanding of the lessons that good will triumph over evil,” he adds.

Such learning, however, is not possible through direct teaching but through ‘implications’ of what they see around them, according to the expert.

Fairytales also build critical thinking and child psychologists believe these are essential for cognitive development of a child.

Many parents who spoke about their children’s knack for using gadgets, say they had a much better childhood than their next generation.

“Technology is a silent addiction for our children. Most parents have no clue of what to do to fight the menace,” Shafiul Islam, a bank official who has a four-year-old baby, told this author in Motijheel.

Sara Zaker, actress, media personality and entrepreneur, said a lack of awareness about remedial measures made the situation worse.

“Many parents flaunt their children proudly, displaying their skills in using technology. They go on boasting of the fact that ‘my child’ can do this and that on the internet! These kids will go ‘mechanical’ someday! And we will be responsible for that,” she regrets.

Child specialists also say folktales and fairy stories help children learn their language through stories. Children growing up using gadgets for extended stretches of time are often socially alienated, mentally disturbed and not able to absorb impacts of human interactions.

Telling stories or playing games with children are some ways to give them attention, to give them what more they require in the process of their development.

A strange symptom appeared in a three-year-old girl. She would take to banging her head on walls, presumably to seek attention, according to doctors. Dia (given name) was addicted to playing games on mobile phones and gadgets, said her mother who wanted not to publish her identity and that of her daughter.

When the girl was brought to a child psychologist, her parents were told to keep her away from any kind of device and spend quality time with her.

“Listening to stories help shape children’s communication and social development skills while strengthening emotional bonding with the senior members of the family,” said Sara Zaker.

Various behavioural changes such as lack of concentration, stubbornness and whining are often found in children who stay stuck to the phones, tabs, and other devices.

Here fairytales can play a vital role. Children can feel the warmth and bonding with parents or other elder members of the family while listening to stories. It will improve their social skills, interactive approach and overall sense of importance.

Tradition, literature, heritage and culture are handed down the generations through the invisible chain of storytelling.

It is high time that parents, teachers and other adults in such positions, had woken up to the reality that looms large in our face. It is imperative to regulate use of children’s access to technology and introduce them more to tales bearing cultural heritage. Otherwise, there may be a time when our stories will begin, “Once upon a time when there were fairy stories and folktales...!”