Sunday, July 19, 2009

For kids


I love kids.  Who doesn't?  I have a knack with kids, though for the first few minutes they would look down their noses at me, they will settle down.  

When Ani was young, I used to coin stories for him.  My dad was my teacher.  All my cousins, friends adore my dad, for he is a good story teller.  From Crime stories, adventures, funny ones he had kept us glued many a days.  His masterpiece is "Kaatilae Deepavalli", on how Animals celebrated Diwali in their jungle.  The way they robbed the Shops for new dresses, how the elephant threatened the tailor to make him new trousers and Shirts.  It used to keep us laughing, my mom used these moments to feed us, stuff us with food :( We love listening to him for hours. He is also a very good artist and he gave shape to his characters and how we used to enjoy.  Those days were sheer heaven. Even today I go sit with him, when he spins his stories to younger ones on how the wooden horse fly carrying the Prince and the princess.

I copied the same tactics, and told Ani stories not just at bed times, whenever we are free.  When Ani turned one, I took a break from work and 7 years I was at home enjoying every spare moment with Ani.  We used to draw, colour, make figurines out of clay, sing, dance.  We used to maintain a scrap book for him, a little different from others.  I used to help him with sketches and he will colour.  I will tell him a story and he used to write them in his words.  I also used to coin puzzles, jigsaws, riddles and keep them ready.  When he is back from School, everyday 2 hours will go on his scrap book.

There were several stories, I made up for him.  The dragon that breathed butterflies and Animal adventures, where all the animals were twins with rhyming names.  These animals takes a trip around the world, various destinations, every destination a new couple (Twins) gets added to the list.  I drew them for him. Planning to scan those sketches and reproduce them here.  

Ani still love these stories and he is behind this idea of publishing in my blog.  This had been there in my mind, for quite some time.  Thought will give it shape.  Will have to wait and see how it goes.

I know this is going to be for a very limited audience.  I am writing this for my Son and my son's son.  The art of telling stories, is sadly neglected.  We don't have time to tell them stories and they opt to watch TV.

Already started to work on my first story for kiddos :)

4 comments:

Brosreview said...

That's a good idea! Yes, I used to make up stories while I was taking care of my sis. And, I recall her laughing and connecting to it at a deep level. She also asks me to narrate them now. Well, please post them! It is an art! It will be fun to read!

Viji said...

thanks AJ. Thank u for the encouraging words. If u can share those stories we can co-author n publish them. Ofcourse if only u want to do that.

sri said...

Very Interesting Viji!,

Even Iam planning to adopt the same technics for Richard.(My kid)

Viji said...

@vidya I knw richard is your son and yeah you should... tell him stories lots. that way kids will let their mind roam and see after a day or two they will come with few plots.. they will suggest you how to take the story forward :) andhu kutti kutti udambula evlo azhagana thoughts...however hard we try we can never thank enough God for creating mankind especially kids... avanga manasu kalangamae illama irukku, naama thaan adha seriya use pannikaradhila :)

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