I can't be home for long until I start roaming the streets looking for places to tell stories. So, I did some free shows for the local Headstart. I was grateful to get some story relief.
When I finished telling my stories and singing a couple of songs, I asked the kids if they had a story to tell. They went ballistic, throwing their hands in the air and sharing their stories. The teachers were thrilled.
Headstart is a non-profit community pre-school who's mission is to maximize the strengths of families, their health and well being and the social skills of children. I believe that story plays a large part in strengthening families plus it is the perfect tool to educate children about health, social skills, and many other important life skills. And I'm not even going to start on my tangent about story exercising right brain thinking which helps grow ethical kids. I clear a room when I get going on that one.
Most of the children in the Headstart program come from low income homes. When I worked for the police department one of the things we noticed was that when we entered low income homes we never saw books.
If you are a storyteller...look up your local Headstart. Give them a call. And go share a story. If you have books or tapes...donate them to the class. Help give a kid a headstart.
