And the moral of the story is...

...not to shove a message into your kid’s face. Children are better served if adults discuss the themes of a book, raise questions and have conversations instead.

Moral stories. Adults are obsessed with them. I keep getting asked to recommend stories with morals. The largely accepted definition of a moral story is one with a 'lesson', which is summarised at the end with an easy-to-remember sentence.

I’m not a fan of moral stories. Stories ought to have, and mostly do have, themes. Broadly speaking, a theme is what a story is about. A theme makes you think. It encourages you to ask questions. It makes you wonder: “What if?” On the other hand, a moral gives you answers. It tells you, “Look, this is the lesson you should take away from this story.”

Why are we so intent on telling children what they should learn from a story? Are we afraid of what they will extract from it?

Every reader reads a book or a story in a different way. What they take away from that book depends on where they are in their life, and what they are looking for in that particular moment. The same holds true for kids.

According to me, the themes in my story Manya Learns to Roar are about finding one’s voice and standing up for oneself. However, one child told me, “The book taught me how to be a good friend.” It made me stop and think. Yes, Manya has a lovely friend, but I hadn’t really thought of friendship as being one of the themes of my book. If I, as the author, had set down a moral at the end of the book and told the reader what to learn from it, would this child had dug deeper, and seen and taken what she needed from the story?

Also, I’m not sure if young children even understand a moral. It requires noting a character’s intention, the story context, and logical steps leading to a conclusion. Can children really make those connections that early in life?

Besides, 'morals' can be confusing. As a child, I thought the moral 'Slow and steady wins the race' meant that it is wrong to be quick and fast.

A moral shoves a message into your face — the child might remember the words, but doesn’t necessarily understand the concept. On the other hand, in the absence of a moral, a child will be able to understand the themes, even if they cannot put them into words.

Many adults are of the opinion that children must learn something from a book, otherwise what’s the use of reading? Reading for pleasure ranks low in the hierarchy of the 'uses' of reading. And that is where moral stories come in handy for adults. That’s perhaps why adults, especially in India, are so fond of moral stories.

But reducing a story to one line, or one lesson, doesn’t do justice to the story. Children are better served if adults discuss the themes of a book, raise questions and have conversations, rather than give the child a moral, all neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow.

The author has written 12 books for children and can be reached at www.shruthi-rao.com

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