There is a fierce battle to shape your child’s imagination, and one of the primary ways your child’s imagination is formed is through stories. Stories shape us, helping us make sense of life by learning how to anticipate what is possible and what might happen in each new moment. Perhaps some of the most transformative stories are those that show us that what we thought impossible is actually possible. They tell us there is real evil and real good in the world—good that overcomes evil.

Before we even realize what stories are, we are telling them to ourselves and hearing them from others. A toddler wakes up and sees the face of her mother or father before anyone else—the main character in their story for many years. This same thing happens every day, and it is pure joy for the child. She comes to expect it. Young children begin to dream of heroes, princes, princesses, and villains that seek to spoil their good plans. As they mature, a broader, lifelong story takes shape that gives meaning to the child’s life, informing them of what is possible, permissible, and commendable in their life.

However, a common theme of modern culture is the use of deceptive stories to blur the lines of morality. For example, have you seen the movies about how the bad guy in the story is actually good, just misunderstood? The theme seems innocent, but just as beautiful stories form a child’s imagination for joy and goodness, these kinds of morality-reshaping narratives can also reshape our children to give credence to that which goes against God’s will. You are not alone if you’ve questioned whether there is a deeper agenda behind such stories.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter”—Isaiah 5:20.

Stories Shape a Child’s Imagination

In essence, stories shape our children’s imagination—how they anticipate the future to turn out, whether or not they expect goodness from God.

Children are not born with a fully developed moral compass. They are born sinners, certainly, but they do not inherently know good from evil. They do, however, seem to know about life and how to live fully without being taught. They laugh and play and express themselves with abandon, unconscious of others’ opinions and the evil in the world. This shouldn't be surprising. Back in the garden of Eden, we were told to eat our fill of life and to never eat of “the knowledge of good and evil.” That’s the first story, and it is our story.

Children are born with a very active, unfettered imagination that gives an outlet to that life. And their imaginations are not actually created moral in the sense we tend to define it, but they are “moral” in that they are a unique aspect of humanity that reflects the image of the God who created us, the God who is good. Our imaginations are good. Fundamentally, our imaginations are beautiful instruments by which we have the capacity, to a degree, to create.

That instrument must be protected, nurtured, and shaped by us as parents, and perhaps the best way to do that is through stories. But, again, there is real evil in the world. Life must be fought for, held onto with intense determination. How can we teach our children about this evil while also giving them a deep assurance that there is an even greater good that overcomes that evil? We must tell them “good” stories.

“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life”—Proverbs 4:23.

Stories Shape a Child’s Identity

Noted author and professor Norman Maclean once said, “The nearest anyone can come to finding himself at any given age is to find a story that somehow tells him about himself.”¹ Stories help us make sense of ourselves and the world around us.

Your children will learn stories. It is inevitable. Because they desire to make sense of their lives, especially when life doesn't go well, stories will be a powerful force in interpreting what’s happening—for good or for evil. Stories are powerful because they draw us into them, answer some unspoken question about ourselves, and give us hope of becoming—hope of transforming.

When Lucy and her siblings embark upon an unexpected adventure through the wardrobe, only to discover they are queens and kings of a fantastical country, it teaches us that perhaps there is much more to us than we know: that we are fierce, lovely, strong—that we have what it takes.

When the hobbit Bilbo is invited on an adventure, he comes back with much more than gold. Something in him has been tested, proven, and settled. He is different, transformed, and we all desire to live in a story that does the same to us.

Heroes

Every good story has a hero, and that hero often must overcome a seemingly insurmountable villain. Who are your children’s heroes? What stories do they love, and what is the hero like in those stories? There is a good chance your children love those stories because they resonate with the hero, see themselves to some degree in that character, and hope for the same transformation.

Whether for cultural or more deeply spiritual reasons, girls and boys both seem to have inherent questions inextricably connected to their core identities. Boys’ questions tend to take the shape of, “Do I have what it takes?”, whereas girls’ questions tend to be along the lines of “Am I lovely? Am I worth pursuing?” The hero’s role in a good story gives hope that there is an answer that resolves their deepest questions about themselves and their place in the world.

This is why it’s so important to tell our children “good” stories—to help them interpret their life through the story God is telling through His ultimate goodness. And it’s crucial to have a pulse on what stories your children are hearing and seeing and learning from the world they live in.

Villians

Stories are perhaps the best way to teach your children about the reality of evil. There is a villain. The life they were freely given at birth is opposed. But they are not helpless. It would be detrimental to teach our children that life is always wonderful and that everything should always work out. But the fact is, our children will experience disappointment, heartache, heartbreak, pain, and suffering. We all need good stories to give us hope—to remind us that, through Christ, our story ends well, that evil is temporary at best, and that good wins.

Stories play a vital role in interpreting evil’s presence in life. Renowned children’s author C. S. Lewis said it well: “Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.”² When they encounter evil but believe in the possibility of heroes and genuine goodness, the weight of life is not quite as heavy.

Root Your Child’s Wonder in the Greatest Story

Again, stories shape our children’s imagination—how they anticipate the future to turn out.

Winning the battle for your child’s imagination means going on the offensive with narrative discipleship. That means telling your children the greatest story, the gospel, to shape their life story. The Bible reveals a narrative through which the entire canon of Scripture flows: creation, fall, redemption, restoration. It’s not just the story of the world. It’s your story. It’s your children’s story. And we must always tell the true story, never denying that pain and suffering are real, but fully trusting that God is good and that He is present in our story.

When life is hard or complicated, the stories we’ve learned will inform how we handle it. That’s why it’s a good idea to give your children good stories to read: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Redwall, and others. These stories have a way of sneaking past the filters of our minds and getting into our hearts to shape us into more whole people.

Another quote by Lewis is fitting here: “But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday School associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.”³

Give your children good stories, help them “steal past those watchful dragons” of their boredom and skepticism, and protect and nurture their sense of wonder by anchoring it directly in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Tell them the truth of their story in Christ—help them interpret their life through the gospel—often.

“Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up”—Deuteronomy 6:7.

Notes

1. MacLean, Young Men and Fire, 145.

2. Lewis, On Three Ways of Writing for Children.

3. Lewis, Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said.

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Author Bio

Brian Sherman is a marketing copywriter for The Daily Grace Co. and an Associate Pastor at his church in Willis, Texas, where he lives with his wife and three children. He is passionate about discipleship, equipping the body of Christ, and making the deep truths of Scripture accessible to everyone.

Additional Resources:

Prayers for My Children		Theology For Me: Big Truths to Grow Your Faith		The Story of Redemption Bible Study Bundle
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