Folktales can benefit your kids: Here is how

Folktales are endearing fables and legends that have been circulating in a culture’s oral tradition for hundreds of years. But can wise forest trees, sly monkeys, long-dead kings and extinct dragons and princesses teach anything to modern children? Read on to find out.  

Develops listening skills and critical language skills 
Folktales passed down to us through oral tradition. So they are made for listening, remembering and sharing. As a result, folktales are attractive, and kids like listening to them. This makes them more attentive hearers and develops vocabulary. And when they repeat the stories, they exercise critical thinking about a plausible plot, become fluent, and gain self-confidence while narrating a tale. So make sure your kids are listening and telling the stories to others.  

Instils cultural and ethical values 
A community’s basic lifestyle and core ethical values are preserved in the moral framework of folktales. Folk heroes are not remembered by history, but they resemble real people around us. Folk stories have an immense educational value.  

Folktales establish a connect with nature  
Once upon a time, all communities lived closer to nature, and reaped certain benefits from it. Folktales have a refreshing, rustic quality that is almost like a mental health drink for urban kids. The humble characters, both animal and people, remind us that we are all connected in the circle of life.   

Teach decision making and trouble shooting 
If that sounds absurd, think of the crow that dropped stones in a pot to raise the water level and drink. Or tales where honest, brave and resourceful young men win princesses instead of entitled but foolish princes. The Jataka tales and Aesop’s fables demonstrate how characters, even if they are small in size, can win in difficult situations by using their brain to move towards safety. Folktales demonstrate the importance of making difficult decisions under challenging circumstances, keeping calm and thinking straight, and not losing moral or ethical bearings even when provoked or tempted. Kids remember these lessons precisely because they are taught without sounding preachy, and use them in their lives.