Bedtime stories, to teach children to be free.
Once upon a time there was a fox... Once upon a time there was a child...
How the stories begin: Mother fox and hungry foxes.
The story I want to tell today has two protagonists: a fox and a child, both free and both lively and curious.
The fox and the child both existed, although in a different way: one was made to enter children’s dreams just before sleeping, the other was born free to run through woods, meadows and mountains.
In these late summer days, I remember when the holidays were not just summer and schools did not start, as now, in September.
Summer was slow and autumn arrived with its colors, the shape of the clouds, the smells, the textures all spoke in a concrete and tangible way without passing through the filter of a screen.
From three months of life, to six years old, I happened to spend the end of summer with my grandparents, in the mountains, more particularly in the alpine pasture, sharing the life of the Bergaminese.
Then there were almost all old mountaineers with their herds, who spent the summer in the mountains and went down to the plains only for the winter.
Perhaps they were not really old but at least that seemed to me, the only girl who spent autumn with them, cuddled by everyone, always welcomed with tenderness, even by those who, for sobriety and modesty, hid glances and smiles, under the skirts of the hat.
They were men of very few words, always engaged in their hard work but often also absorbed, lost to scrutinize the sky and its wishes, able to read in the direction of the wind or in the going of the clouds, incomprehensible signs for me.
The story of Mamma Volpe and the hungry foxes began like this: the story of an experience of freedom.
Like all the boys and girls of that age, I also had my fears: strong storms in the mountains, behind the fragile and old roof of a stable, can be really scary and they were for me, who hugged dad making me small, with the heart that seemed to come out from my chest.
Another thing that made me really afraid, strange to say, were the cows, huge to my eyes, with their bells and soft looks, but really too big, compared to me so small.
Friend of a thousand adventures instead, to which I would have quietly put my hands inside the jaws as much as I trusted him, was Dog a bald, brave, sensitive and tireless Bergamasco Shepherd.
I have no photos of him but, even without closing my eyes, I can feel his soft Isabella hair and see his sweet eyes and his quiet intelligence.
It seems centuries ago that people knew how to look at nature as a part of themselves, centuries since the fairy tales of good night, told of the little goat that was lost and ended up in a ravine or a hungry fox and his "volpacini".
What does the fairy tale teach us?
The fairy tales of a time told about an enchanted world, the one that inhabits the dreams of all children in every age and in every country, but they also knew how to tell about concrete things.
In all countries of the world, fairy tales tell how nature must be understood and respected, how animals are part of our life and make it better, how to enjoy a living environment and enrich deeply those who have the good fortune to live there.
It seems centuries ago that children were free to raise their eyes towards the clouds or lower them on a meadow, as I did, but they are not.
So far I have told of the child but... in the story there is also a fox: Mother fox, together with her five little foxes, lively and hungry.
How many adventures lived with them, before sleeping. The fox and his cubs, five to be precise, took body in the stories of the grandmother and every evening they carried me with them on the shady paths of the forest, on the pastures in the nights of full moon, in their warm and protected den.
The fairy tales heard when you were little never leave you and I believe it is common opinion, that they help every boy and girl to grow up with a set of care and know, which is like a bridge built between generations.
This is what the fairy tale teaches us: as children to let ourselves be carried on the wings of fantasy and as adults to build a piece of that bridge and be with this care; That’s why fairy tales are so important.
What are the benefits of reading fairy tales to children?
As I have already done on numerous occasions, I like to repeat once again that telling fairy tales to children is one of the most fun, intense and intimate experiences you can experience.
From grandparents, as in the case of the story of Mama Fox and the hungry little foxes, to parents, teachers and storytellers, always, telling a story builds bridges towards tomorrow and does so by providing children with tools and values, arousing questions and giving answers, Entertaining and stimulating.
The telling of a story is never a passive experience, it is not for those who listen and it is not for those who tell.
It is certainly more convenient to provide children with a video story, but it does not have the same value.
The expressions of the face, the looks, the tone of the voice, the language used, the movements of the body, the emotional involvement, which are lived with the reading or the oral narration of a story, are absolutely irreplaceable.
But the benefits of reading fairy tales do not stop there: so many language problems that arise in children, could be contained or minimized with the daily story, made immediately after birth, so many listening difficulties and understanding, which are highlighted at school, could be prevented, even by using storytelling and reading as intentional tools of stimulation.
Today children, even the smallest ones, sink with their eyes and all themselves, into a screen that swallows them, just look at them, remain insensitive to what surrounds them, attentive only to what they have in their hands.
Teach children to be free through a story or book.
I looked up at the clouds and lowered them on the lawn, this was my freedom when I was little and this freedom allowed me to grow creative and resilient, to experiment in both difficulties and achievements.
We leave our children the same freedom, allow them to make experiences and guarantee that one of these experiences is reading or daily storytelling.
Teaching children to be free through a story or a book is the best way to provide emotional and cognitive muscles that grow with them, that accompany them throughout their lives, giving security and strength.
That’s why the story of Mamma Volpe and the hungry little foxes, wants to be just a small, precious, tool, to use in the evening before sleeping or when you want, to tell and share.
Mother fox and hungry foxes: a fairy tale and a dream out of the drawer.
If fairy tales are precious because they build a bridge between generations, it is to build our piece of bridge that, Alessandro Zenari with his wonderful illustrations and I have created the story of Mamma volpe and the hungry little foxes.
In this little book, we have revived our memories and our roots, which gradually became trunk, branches and new shoots.