Many a year ago, back in 1865, there was a small, obscure book called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written by a creative academic under the pseudonym Lewis Carrol. (Carrol, 1864). It toyed with the natural playfulness of childhood, recounting familiar notions of innocence and logic within a warped setting. It's frequently regarded as one of the most influential early narratives aimed at children, following the young protagonist of Alice, detailing how she interprets and engages with the unfamiliar fantastical world of Wonderland, having received a number of, and I may be biased here, incredible adaptations. (Ho, 2015). This child-centric approach to the story, following a child's experiences, helped shape modern childish literature, pulling focus on how one can see the world through a childish lens. From then on, literacy and reading have been fully ingrained in typical childhood. Most of you will recall time spent with your parent, guardian or an older significant figure, snuggled up right in your cosy bed, being read from a brightly illustrated picture book. You may reminisce about time spent tracing the bold, printed words with your small fingertips, trying your hardest to keep up with the words spoken so elaborately and incredibly exaggerated by a mature but captivating voice. Taking in all the inflexions, new vocabulary and emphasized sounds would have most likely been a positive experience. Despite this recurring shared memory for most adults, new polls have indicated that in 2018 only 29% of parents read to those children daily, as per the National Literacy Trusts recommendation (National Literacy Trust, 2018). In the digital age of accessible internet and video games, are children less receptive to storytelling?
The short answer; no. But we’ll get to that later. Before I explain, you should know why storytelling, particularly between a close adult and child, is imperative to both parties. It may seem obvious but engaging with ’interactive reading’, which in layman's terms is reading between an adult figure and a child with either assuming the role of speaker, can help improve how a child develops their verbal competency and future understanding of language, even that of which many parents see as being well above their reading level (AAP Gateway, 2017). By exposing us to varying linguistic principles and allowing our own experimentation with the written word as children, they have inadvertently tortoise (no, that's not a typo, avid Alice in Wonderland readers will understand how they ’taught us’) the ways in which we develop our future language. However, the benefits of storytelling aren't just cognitive. Children can actually improve their emotional skillset through frequent interactive reading, providing the building blocks for strong relationships in the future. Many studies have outlined the benefits reading aloud to your children (and vice versa) has, with one by Adam and Shapira collating research which expresses that children who do so more frequently have stronger empathetic skills, leading to better understanding of others, even at a young age (Aram and Shapira, 2013). As Alice would say, “who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the greatest puzzle.” which is a common struggle for youngsters; who are YOU? (Another subtle Alice reference, you’re welcome). Being able to relate to a character in a narrative allows anyone struggling with their identity to explore notions of self in a healthy space. Through reading or being read to, insecurities can be expressed in the context of a character, allowing better articulation of anxieties to parents and careers alike, giving them a platform for expressing their feelings. Again, this supports the development of their social skills, understanding and general self-understanding (Kumon UK, 2019). It’s essential for parents to become better engaged with their child’s playful narrative explorations as they grow up. Greater benefits are reaped when playful activities, including reading, are dually adopted by parents. (Lindsey and Mize, 2000). Now you have a validated excuse to play with your child’s Lego sets and read them your favourite old storybook under the guise of social skill building and cognitive development. Recent studies have also shown that despite being read to less, older children between 9 and 12 do in fact still want their parents to read to them or hear them read aloud, with no change from younger ages love of interactive reading to older.
So here comes the greatest puzzle of all; how can parents and guardians engage with the children under care when it’s so easy to just allow a video game on a screen to act as the storyteller since engaging with narrative together seems to still be wanted and needed. It’s easy, engage with video games with them! Despite some negative press in regards to video games, when played with an appropriate age rating, it can have unique benefits. Of course, in narrative or story-like games, the improvements to a child’s literacy and social comprehension formally explored are still extremely prevalent. Many games such as Unravel which dissects the complexities of a failing mind using an adorable string protagonist in a beautiful land adjacent to our own (Unravel, 2016). However, there are some unique ways in which video games game be a massive force for good. By engaging with your child’s gaming you can actually help open up a unique space for bonding. Within unique interactive spaces, which can include physical and digital mediums, the positive interactions with your children can be cultivated using fun. If you and your child engage together in a dungeon game, fighting through hordes of zombies, reptilians or ghostly knights, you have the shared experience, whilst learning about each other’s survival methods. Your child may be surprised to see you use up your potions with ease, or express awe and wonder at the speed in which you were able to defeat the final boss. Often, we don’t see our parental figures in such fantastical scenarios, making shared interactions within stories a unique part of gaming (ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact, 2013). ”Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality” as one smiling feline might say. Creating an escape from reality can help one understand it in more abstract ways, and as previously stated, improve articulation of such hard to comprehend concepts.
Incorporating personal involvement in your child's interests is exponentially beneficial to how they develop the skills needed for adult life. Simple mutual engagement cultivates a healthy space for conversation, allowing for difficult topics to be addressed through relation to characters or parts of the story (Shapiro, 2013). Knowing your child and their issues improve parental bonds, solidifying your role as a trusted figure, leading to better parental bonding. The educational skills which can be acquired through interactive reading and the written word can still be achieved within some games. It may sound strange, but putting subtitles on during your cooperative gameplay can still help achieve similar reading effects as it allows the child to still attach the written record to the spoken. In a recent talk at the Social mobility summit, Justine Greening who was formerly education secretary explicitly suggests that subtitles on media should be implemented for a better home literacy environment (Hazell, 2018). Such a simple change to your child's video gaming makes the medium an ideal way of multi-generational storytelling
”If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.” Says Alice, and she’s right. For children, storytelling is how they understand the world and engage with skills for the ’real’ world. The best thing you can do is share the experience of fantasy with them, whether that's through exploring the blocky world of Minecraft or sitting down and reading Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, story-time is still much needed and wanted (Minecraft, 2009).