It’s my fervent hope that the practice of reading stories at
bedtime is not being superseded by the seductions of television and
computers. There’s an intimacy
involved in sitting down with a book and reading aloud to a child that is
missed in the more solitary experience you get in front of a screen or
monitor. The “teaching” part goes
beyond the relay of information and into the realm of the human heart, body
contact, intonation, and relationship.
My own children are grown now, but I believe that story time was an
important and memorable part of their childhood experience, and one they pass
on to their own children.
My youngest grandchild, little Luka, is not yet old enough
to sit still for a story. At
nineteen months, his little body resists the requirement of sitting still, and
his hyperactive mind, that of paying attention.
When he gets to be old enough, though, I’ll be reading to him, starting
with the nursery rhymes and fairy tales intended for the very youngest ears. It will be a little while before he’s ready
for something more sustained, but when he is, I’ll look forward to reading him
the stories from this book.
I have learned so much, myself, in recent years, from the
teachings of the dharma that I would want to pass on to Luka, but the question
is always, what is he ready for? I
don’t want to come across all preachy and heavy-handed, because that can as
easily turn a young mind away as turn it on. But the stories in this book—the subtitle calls them “Tales
of Compassion and Kindness for You to Read with Your Child—to Delight and
Inspire”—live up to their billing.
They are good stories, adapted from traditional sources, based on the
common values of kindness and compassion.
Their teaching is exemplary rather than didactic, and each one has its
own simplicity and charm. They are
told in language that is comfortably readable, and are accompanied by brief,
useful essays suggesting how they are best used.
Each of the stories begins with the injunction, “Relax,
close your eyes, and imagine…”—an opening intended to introduce a child to the
pleasantly attentive state of meditation; and in fact several meditation
practices suitable for children are suggested in the last pages of the
book. Since I have no children or
grandchildren of appropriate age, I have no way of knowing how they might take
to them. I have often wondered,
though, when and how it might be possible to introduce a child to a practice
that has become so meaningful in my own life, and would be curious to know what
kind of response could be expected from those described. I’ll admit to having my doubts, I
suppose in part because it took me so many years, myself, to be ready for its
benefits!
The acid test: would I read this book to Luka, when he’s old
enough? Absolutely. It’s a book I’m sure any
Buddhist-inclining parent would welcome in their children’s library.
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