Last night, as I was on the bed with my daughter, waiting for her to fall asleep, I thought of telling her a story. I wanted to encourage her to read her bookshelf-full of books - to give her activities some variety.
She has taken to answering her old school books and activity books, playing with her animal toys, colouring, drawing - all while taking videos on our old cellphone.
I think she's doing great - I really do, but, I wanted her to grow up loving books, too! Reading stories and not just watching them play out on screen. I want her to use her imagination more.
So, last night, I told her of a story that she might find in one of her books. The only thing that came to my mind at that moment was The Ugly Duckling. I've read that like ages ago and because of that, I did not remember exactly how it went.
I had to make up a lot of the story, but in the end she enjoyed it. She was happy that the ugly duckling turned into a beautiful swan. I tried to squeeze in a lesson somehow, because that's what I think these children's stories are for.
After that, she was a lot more calm and ready to sleep. The best part? She said, 'I love you' like she really meant it.
When I heard it, it made me smile. Thought to myself, why didn't I do this sort of thing more often? I'm so caught up sometimes (most of the time) with all the little things, I forget to connect with her.
It doesn't even have to be such a grand gesture, a simple half-made-up story would do.
I know she's a really smart kid and that she can be independent, in fact, we always teach her to be independent - but, she is also still very young. She still wants her parent's attention, time and love.
She's not even picky about it. We just need to take time out of our busy minds and allot some for her.
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