“All my pajama stories involve our cousins and the silly things we did,” reported Anna when I asked her to talk about how bedtime stories and pajama parties help kids read. “It’s less about reading and more about silly adventures. Do you remember the time we put rollers in all their hair and took them to Starbuck’s?”

I totally forgot. But there IS something about wearing pajamas and going somewhere after dark. Pajamas in public brings out the silly in kids. And aunts. 

“We just thought they needed a silly memory as they were pre-teens.”

Anna claims we were trying to make their mom seem like the normal sister. Sounds like an excuse for fun, if you ask me.

The sure way to make all moms seem cool: Send the kids to their nutty aunt’s house for a few days of hilarity. 

In this episode, Anna shares her bedtime experiment, our family’s special version of Candy Land, and we talk about how grandparents can play an integral part in fostering healthy family relationships and values. Find this one and many more podcasts on Fireside Talk Radio, where we speak Truth with a Texas Twang!

Bedtime Stories, Fun, and Family Values

“The giggles happen more naturally late at night,” says Anna. 

When they were little, I filled their heads with stories to spark courage and confidence in my children’s hearts, as they drifted off to sleep. 

“I think you guys did a marvelous job of telling us stories that lead to reading,” says Anna. “But there was one (story) that I still remember vividly about bears and probably princesses. These bears and these little girls had all sorts of adventures.”

Intentionally, I made up stories to reenforce our family values. We recorded the tales on cassette players for repeated entertainment on road trips. 

“A lot of them had morals. Looking back I realize you were doing lots of things with our stories,” Anna reports. “But we used to beg you. They were almost like episodes. I’m sure you laid there as you tried to tell them to us and thought, ‘What is this character gonna do next. I have no idea.’”

So true! I figured out early in my parenting that if I wanted to be like Jesus, I had to lecture and scold a lot less.

Robot Recorders and Being a True Conservative

Remember the colorful mics attached by coiled wire to cassette recorders that looked like a toy robot? They were indestructible. We carried them everywhere. Recorder Robots were my secret weapon to entertain and teach my kiddos in the car long before technology delivered screens built into SUVs.

“Those stories you told were really about using our resources well,” Anna says. By resources, she clarifies exactly what she views as the most important resource. “Our own character.”

“You take good care of your resources. Your character qualities qualify. Your education, many things become resources when you think of them in a broader sense,” says Anna, explaining how true conservatives think. 

Anna and I are both word nerds. We collect words like some people collect Hummel figures.

I’m on a minor mission to reclaim the traditional meaning of excellent words messed up by modern pundits and politicos. Yep, there’s a little Don Quixote in me, I’ll admit. Last week, we reclaimed liberal; this week conservative. 

Our Camp Krafve Definition of Conservative—stewarding resources wisely to have something wonderful to share.

Read the FULLL article here.

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