Since children, like adults, seldom listen to advice, it hardly ever helps to say to them when they have problems, “This is what you should do …” What helps are Annie Stories.
In More Annie Stories, the sequel to her popular first volume, Australian psychologist Doris Brett teaches us how to tell a special and useful kind of story to our children — stories that will ease their fears and help them solve their problems. Hearing about the solutions and successes of make-believe girls and boys who are similar to themselves increases children’s confidence and encourages them to draw on their own strengths to resolve their difficulties.
Since, as parents, many of us lack confidence in our ability to make up stories, Doris Brett helps us, too. In this book, she tells eleven stories focused on common childhood experiences. These are:
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- fear of the dark
- bedwetting
- shyness
- teasing
- divorce
- stepfamilies
- siblings
- impulsive children
- compulsive and perfectionistic children
- children of alcoholics
- relaxation
She carefully explains how we can tailor her tales for our own children’s personalities and situations.
For any problems your child may have that are not included in this list, Doris Brett also has a solution. Her opening chapters offer detailed advice on how to make up your own stories. An additional chapter on teaching people how to tell these stories demonstrates the power of this technique for solving the problems even of adults.
Storytelling has benefits beyond helping solve problems; it is also an activity that can bring parents and children closer together. The positive results from telling these stories will increase the self-esteem of both parents and children — and will help foster the “happy endings” we all hope for!
As reviewer David L. Higgins, M.S. of San Diego, California wrote of Doris Brett’s first volume, Annie Stories: “Not only do the stories gently help the parents to help their children ‘tame the beasts of childhood,’ but the process of storytelling can bring the parents and children closer together The book offers parents a skill which can enable them to feel there is something specific they may do to help their distressed children.”
“Doris Brett is a gifted storyteller. From her own experiences as a parent, she provides parents, teachers and others in the healing professions with an understandable, straightforward, easy-to-learn format for using storytelling to help children with a variety of problems. This heartfully written book is a valuable edition for any library.” — JOYCE C. MILLS, PH.D. coauthor of Sammy the Elephant and Mr. Camel: A Story to Help Children Overcome Bedwetting and Therapeutic Metaphors for Children and the Child Within
Annie Stories and its sequel More Annie Stories have been published in the U.S.A., Europe and Asia as well as Australia.
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Published by Magination Press (Brunner/Mazel) 1992.