Stories to stimulate the imagination.

After eleven o'clock, the man with a cage at each end of the stick would come among the shadows of trees, searching for those children who are still playing around. He would come stealthily, fearful that parents might hear him. At that hour, he hopes that the parents would be too sleepy to know of his presence. Perhaps, they have fallen asleep, eyes too heavy with tiredness to realise someone is nearby to drag one of their children away. He would look through the windows to find those little ones still awake, to lure them away to work for him, never to see their parents again. So, all of you had better wash up and go off to bed. It's almost eleven o'clock. If he finds you then, mom would not know what to do or how to get you back from him. Go before he comes.

With that the children would quickly rush off to sleep, closing their eyes tight so that the man with the cages to catch little children would not know that this little one is still not asleep. And with eyes closed, darkness brought relief in sleep.

When I was young, parents would tell stories to get children to behave or go to sleep early. I was a victim of such techniques and the imagination was stimulated so well that I could imagine the man waiting just at the window whenever I heard footsteps or the sound of breathing. Of course, when a house is made of wood which was quite common in those days, the snores and heavy breathing of sleep were easily heard.

Yes, stories can indeed stimulate young children's imagination! Therefore it is good for parents to tell or read a good story to the children as they prepare for sleep. My children initally read stories from the Ladybird Reading Programme. From there they move forward to other short stories. Sometimes, I would do the reading of the stories.

However, we ought to remember not to tell ghost stories before going to bed as the imagination stimulated by such stories may end up with our child fearful of venturing to the bathroom or toilet all by himself/herself at night or screaming in fear in a nightmare in the middle of the night. Such is the power of imagination in the mind of children. And even for some adults, the effect of such stimulation can be disturbing.

So, choose the stories wisely so as not to allow imagination to bring unnecessary fear to our children.