Kids today are growing up in a multimedia world. Whether through a television show, online game, or YouTube video, the stories that resonate with them are more likely to involve sound and motion. For this younger generation, storytelling is participatory. It's about seeing, hearing, and interacting.
So it probably shouldn't surprise me that the headphones and CD player that I had out as part of my booth at the Vermont History Expo in June attracted an exclusive demographic of listeners …. By and large, they were 15 years and under.
And what surprised me most of all was not that they actually noticed the headsets that so many adults unwittingly walked by, but that they stood and listened for 3-5 minutes, obviously entertained by the audio snippets of life-story interviews that I had prepared.
Quite frankly, I think that they may have been relieved. Finally, a "play" button, a human voice, and a bit of music. They were engaged.
My kids, ages 4 and 7, and a great number of their friends, are really into audio books these days. Our 6-year-old neighbor listened to 20 hours of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire on a cross-country road trip. And they bought the next audio-book in the sequence before reaching their destination.
Whenever I complete a personal-history project, I do a quick "proof-listen" in the car before boxing it up and sending it off to my client. And my children never complain. They actually pick up on the stories that are being told and laugh right along with the storyteller - who, in these cases, is relating episodes from his or her life.
It's not the latest Harry Potter or Magic Treehouse edition, but it's equally as entertaining for them … And as their parent, I know that they're gaining such valuable insights by listening to these stories of growing up in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s -- trapping squirrels for spending money, selling veggies door-to-door to help mom and dad pay the bills, and making their own wooden skis for backyard ski-jumping.
Is a child more likely to "listen" to grandma and grandpa's life story than to read it? My experience at the Expo and with my own children tells me, "perhaps."
So it probably shouldn't surprise me that the headphones and CD player that I had out as part of my booth at the Vermont History Expo in June attracted an exclusive demographic of listeners …. By and large, they were 15 years and under.
And what surprised me most of all was not that they actually noticed the headsets that so many adults unwittingly walked by, but that they stood and listened for 3-5 minutes, obviously entertained by the audio snippets of life-story interviews that I had prepared.
Quite frankly, I think that they may have been relieved. Finally, a "play" button, a human voice, and a bit of music. They were engaged.
My kids, ages 4 and 7, and a great number of their friends, are really into audio books these days. Our 6-year-old neighbor listened to 20 hours of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire on a cross-country road trip. And they bought the next audio-book in the sequence before reaching their destination.
Whenever I complete a personal-history project, I do a quick "proof-listen" in the car before boxing it up and sending it off to my client. And my children never complain. They actually pick up on the stories that are being told and laugh right along with the storyteller - who, in these cases, is relating episodes from his or her life.
It's not the latest Harry Potter or Magic Treehouse edition, but it's equally as entertaining for them … And as their parent, I know that they're gaining such valuable insights by listening to these stories of growing up in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s -- trapping squirrels for spending money, selling veggies door-to-door to help mom and dad pay the bills, and making their own wooden skis for backyard ski-jumping.
Is a child more likely to "listen" to grandma and grandpa's life story than to read it? My experience at the Expo and with my own children tells me, "perhaps."
RSS Feed
