sharing stories is all about love

In our book, The Peanut Story, Little Honey tells a story to help her little brother, Baby Tru, fall asleep. The story she tells comes from her heart. She believes that Baby Tru must be lonely so she conjures up a friend for him. Little Honey then relies on her own experiences to imagine Baby Tru as a child about her age, having the kinds of adventures with his friend that she is capable of envisioning. This story within a story is all about love.
 
Our Little Honey books began as oral stories that author, Rachel Eisenhauer, told to her children before bed when they were little. Our brother overheard her one night and encouraged her to write the stories down. However, Rachel was not pleased with the outcome of the written stories and, instead, chose to record the story telling and then transcribe the recorded versions to written word. Each of these stories was a mother’s gift to her children – a gift of love.
 
Most of us feel powerful connections to stories and their tellers. There is not only a level of comprehension that occurs when a story is told but an emotional response as well. We pour our hearts and souls into the stories we tell and children not only enjoy hearing them but they absorb that love. The impact of stories on children is vast and includes helping them develop empathy and a sense of identity. As they visualize themselves in the stories they hear, children can reimagine the world they live in.
 
Each Little Honey book is a story that came from the heart. So it seemed only natural that within the final story of our series, the final little lesson would be “Sharing stories with family and friends is a special way to show love.” It is our deepest hope that you and your children will sense the love in our stories.
 
One story I remember reading and sharing with my brother when we were both children was Peter Pan. A world where children could fly intrigued and excited me and I wanted to share that with someone I loved. What stories did you love as children? Do you tell your children stories about your childhoods? If so, feel free to share some of your adventures – or the response of your children – in the comments.