As if we don’t have enough things to worry about as parents – now it’s time to think about the bedtime stories you tell. Holiday camp company Butlin’s took the time to research into the most ideal bedtime stories including the length of the story and the content. And here are their important findings.
Parents spend approximately one week a year, when you add up all the minutes, trying to get their kids to go to sleep. With this frustration in mind, the company found that the best bedtime story lasts for eight minutes and 36 seconds and has traditional elements to it like a castle, a hero and a magic wand.
12% of parents surveyed said that they thought bedtime was the most stressful time of the day. The study surveyed 2000 parents and children to find out why bedtime is so stressful and to find the perfect answer to this stress.
The 1000 children who were surveyed were asked what they most liked about bedtime story time and most chose magical and traditional elements like castles, princesses and dragons. They liked horses the most as the way to get around in a story (21%) agreed, while 14% preferred the flying car. Most kids wanted stories about friendship rather than romance (no surprise there).
Storytelling expert, Alexandra Charalambous, weighed in by explaining, “As your child prepares to go back to school after the holidays, it’s a good idea to establish a steady bedtime routine that includes reading a story. As the research shows, the familiarity of a classic tale draws children in and the happy ending makes for a pleasant night’s sleep. Story boxes are a great way to tell a story. Story boxes can be a shoe box placed on its side and decorated as a setting e.g, the woods or a seaside scene. You can use finger puppets or characters stuck on lolly sticks for your characters. This allows you much more freedom to take the story in whichever direction you wish.”
