Reading and Image--imagination

   Reading aloud may be one of the most important contributions that parents can make toward developing good character in their children. Why? For several reasons. First, because stories can create emotional attachment to goodness, a desire to do the right thing. Second, because stories provide a wealth of good examples - the kind of examples that are often missing from a child's day to day environment. Third, because stories familiarize youngsters with the codes of conduct they need to know. Finally, because stories help to make sense out of life.

     When we see others from the inside, as we do in stories, . . .we learn a new respect for people. In the June 1990 issue of American Psychologist, Paul Vitz, a professor at New York University, provides an extensive survey of psychological studies pointing to "the importance of stories in developing moral life."

     But why stories? Why not simply explain the difference between right and wrong to your children? Why not supply them with a list of dos and don'ts?

     Such explanations are important but they fail to touch children on the level where it matters -- the level of imagination. Imagination. The word comes from "image" -- a mental picture. When a moral principle has the power to move us into action, it is often because it is backed up by a picture or image.

     Plato said that children should be brought up in such a way that they will fall in love with virtue and hate vice. How does a child fall in love with virtue? By being exposed to the right kind of stories, music, and art, said Plato.

     Stories, because of their hold on the imagination, can create an attachment to goodness. The nature of stories enables us to "rehearse" moral decisions, strengthening our solidarity with the good.

Excerpts from Books That Build Character
by William Kilpatrick and Gregory and Suzanee Wolfe