Learning through stories

Children should know their rights. But the articles of the law need to be translated in a child-friendly way. The best way to do this is with stories - for example Hansel and Gretel.

When I was a child, I loved sitting on my grandmother's lap. I wanted to hear my favourite story all the time: the one about the girl who wasn't allowed to go to school because education was reserved for boys. She disguised herself as a boy and thus gained access to school.
Children live in the moment, in their feelings, they have an almost unbelievable power of imagination. And they learn and experience through stories. My five-year-old niece Camille also loves stories. Her favourite book is «The Rainbow Fish». It is also about exclusion: the rainbow fish is shunned by the other sea creatures because it is vain and stingy.
Every time I tell my niece how the rainbow fish thinks better of it and makes other fish happy by giving away its colourful, shiny scales, her eyes light up. Camille then strokes her colourful book with the glittering fish and talks to it.

Locked up and fattened up?

Camille's mum asked me which books I would recommend to discuss children's rights with her daughter. The answer is: you don't need books about children's rights. These are formulated by adults for adults and are far removed from the experiences and feelings of children.
Traditional stories, children's books and nursery rhymes offer plenty of material for discussing rights and wrongs against children. Using the fairy tale «Hansel and Gretel», for example, parents can talk about various children's rights: the right to equal treatment, food, health, protection, play and leisure.

«Hansel and Gretel» wraps up the violation of several children's rights in a fairytale-like way.

Because children must not only not be locked up or abused. Children also have the right to a healthy diet and clean drinking water as well as protection from being sold or abducted. «Hansel and Gretel» is a fairy-tale version of the violation of a number of children's rights. Not being locked in a cage and fattened up are just two of them. It is important that we adults become aware of children's rights - then we will also find examples that we can use to explain them to children.
Children think differently to adults. Camille can't read yet - her world is made up of pictures and colours. Let her and the other children discover the world and their rights with all their senses. Children learn with their hearts.
Image: Getty Images

About the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation

The Pestalozzi Children's Foundation is an internationally active children's aid organisation. Children and young people have been at the centre of its activities since 1946. The Children's Village in Trogen is a place of peace-building, where children from Switzerland and abroad learn to deal with cultural and social differences through exchange. In twelve countries around the world, the foundation provides disadvantaged children with access to quality education.
www.pestalozzi.ch

About the author:

My Hanh Isabelle Derungsist Psychologin und Erwachsenenbildnerin. Sie arbeitet bei der Stiftung Kinderdorf Pestalozzi als Leiterin Bildung und Evaluation.
My Hanh Isabelle Derungs
is a psychologist and adult educator. She works at the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation as Head of Education and Evaluation.

More about children's rights:

Children in power On Children's Rights Day, the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation, together with the Swiss Association of Youth Organisations (SAJV) and the Swiss Children's Lobby, organises a children's conference at which children have their say.