Frederick: Most people that we have been around don’t really understand what the power of story is and I think it’s best illustrated again by an Einstein paper. He was asked…one of those great questions, “What should mankind be doing now that will benefit him in the future, him or her, whoever mankind might be?”
He answered, “Read stories to the children.” So the person interviewing didn’t quite understand that. They wanted to move on and he said, Mr. Einstein, what else do you think we should be doing?” He said, “Read more stories to your children.” And I don’t think he ever got it. But the power of story is just beyond, you know, beyond the idea.
Patricia: It prepares children for making adult decisions and developing their problem solving skills. Without story you’re not connected to anything. I mean, think of yourself as being the Little Red Hen. You’ve been there. You’ve done all the work for the committee and then they show up for the photo-op.
Well that’s the Little Red Hen — of course it is! The Boy Who Cried Wolf…we know that story and we’ve seen it acted out in life and we react and respond to those situations based on what we were taught in those stories. And so we needed to tell…you have to tell old stories so that we don’t lose the connection. And we have to tell new stories. We have to meet children where they are with new stories.