When your child says "tell me a story," the deeper meaning of the request is "help me understand more about myself and the world." By creating tales that absorb and address your child's own experiences, you will end a busy day with perhaps its most important moment-the bedtime story that offer your child perspective and confidence for tomorrow. Chase Collin's inspiring and practical guide leads parents step by step through the art of inventing bedtime stories.

"Tell Me a Story" gives you the framework to create heroes, symbols, details, and endings that will help your child meet and master life's challenges and opportunities. Using your child's temperament, talents, and needs as inspiration, your stories become an endlessly adaptable way to address very specific experiences-however puzzling, scary, or hilarious. Guide your child through the curiosities and struggles of childhood using the dynamic story-structure described here. As you do, your hope for your child's future will "come alive" night after night, and that essential guiding light-your confidence that your child will be successful in the task of growing up-will come shining through.

Your child believes you can do it, but for parents who aren't so sure, the book offers easy ways to get your imagination in gear. Once you get rolling, you will treasure this rewarding experience as one of the most important things you have ever done for your child. Shaping your child's future is within your powers. Start with "Tell Me a Story" and with "Once upon a time."