When we think back upon the first stories that we start reading to our little ones, many of them are fiction.  Clifford, the adorable, big red dog isn’t real, Barney the purple dinosaur doesn’t exist, and the cat in the hat didn’t really come over to babysit!   We can still learn so much from these characters and their stories.  Others are more realistic, but still fiction:   the Giving Tree didn’t really “love” a little boy, and Mom didn’t sneak into her adult son’s house and rock him to sleep every night (Love you Forever), I hope!

These stories are FUN.  We should be reading these stories to our kids.  But, we can also expose them to nonfiction.   

Our two children were both miracles, products of much prayer.  After years of surgeries and infertility, God brought us our son through the beautiful gift of adoption.  Then, low and behold, after one last surgery for endometriosis, when he was just two months old, I became pregnant.   The kids were less than a year apart, and we were overjoyed!

Mike and I wanted them to KNOW their stories from the start.  We didn’t want to make a big announcement one day, revealing the adoption story and the birth story. So, we ordered some books and read them to the kids from the very start.  Curt’s book told his adoption story, and Gina’s book told her birth story.  Both understood from the moment they could, that God brought them to us in different, purposeful ways.  It was a gradual and natural understanding of our family dynamics.

Biblical stories and those about historical folks who help others can help lay foundations and inspire our kids, even at young ages.   When I taught middle school, we taught fiction (false- remember F=F) and non-fiction (not false) as well as primary vs secondary sources.    I loved using The Diary of Ann Frank as an example of a non-fiction, primary source.   Since the diary is hers, written in her firsthand perspective, this is a primary source.   I typically got choked up telling my class about her story, and many of the kids were inspired to go check out her book in the library and read her words for themselves.  Reading this diary changes us; you’ll never forget what she, her family, and the Jewish people endured.

There’s a place for both; fantasy and fun and imagining, as well as understanding the history of our world, the wonders of creation, and our little roles within it.   As we plant these seeds, fruit will grow!  It’s our job to start watering and tending to these precious young minds.

And again, future teachers will thank you!