A couple days ago La Petita told her first made-up story, front to end. My comments are italicized.
Once upon a time, she started; she knows how to start a tale, there was a little boy name named Chula. She makes up some really strange names. She’s quite good at it and I try to write them down when I can. He ran away from his Mommy and Daddy. He ran into the forest and met a wolf, and the wolf ate him. I asked if the wolf had a name, but not this time. Then, he fell into the ocean (pronounced “oh shan”, BTW) and sharks ate him. The end.
The story is incredibly basic, and yet quite interesting for a 3.3 year old to tell. First, it’s a beginning, middle and end story, with a further surprise ending. It has something of a moral; don’t run away from Mommy and Daddy or bad things will happen to you. A lot. It further exemplifies her current understanding that girls are good and boys are bad, which is pretty normal for this age per gender (little boys obviously think girls are bad).
I’m pretty impressed. Who knew La Petita had it in her to tell fables and parables at such a young age? And despite the “gruesomeness” of the ending it’s clear she’s not negatively affected. In fact I believe it positively reinforces behavior; don’t run away because bad things will happen.
