Art

Importance of stories in human life
A story is a peace of information that could be orally presented or it could be presented in written form.  Stories are usually designed to fit a certain group of people, who could be children, youths or adults.  In early childhood, researchers define the age between zero and five years as a stage of brain development.  Children at this stage must be exposed to as many creative stories as possible.  The stories taught to these children should be simple but contain moral teachings that the children may synthesize easily with or without assistance.

Cognitive development stage is as critical as any other development stage in the human person.  Children who are exposed to stories at a tender age tend to have quality brain formation and are good performers in class. Brain development is attributed to cognitive development skill at an early age.  Good news is that most children are taken to pre- school classes at kindergartens as early as three years (Karen, 19940.  For duration of 2-3 years, they are taught as many stories as possible to develop their judgment, self awareness, organize their thought processes and advance their learning capability.

Taking a quick look at the stages of development in humans at early ages will help us understand more on the need of stories for children. At 0-2 years, children undergo through a learning process called sensorimotor development stage where learning is by movement and sensation.  Pre-operational stage of development, 2-7 year involves initial development in which the child begins to understand.  They are now able to master symbols and make assumptions on the behavior of people and environment with reference to their past life experiences. It is for this reason that the children need to be exposed to many stories from and early age so that they can have a basis for drawing the mentioned assumptions from. At 7-11, year is the concrete operational stage within which the child learns from personal experiences.  Finally, the age from 11 years and above the child can start to form speculative ideas, understand situations of various forms as well as form theories (Tingle, Moore, 2004).  It is wise to understand that if the child was not subjected to quality kind of stories, they will have poor judgmental capability even when they are grown ups.

Mental development therapists and doctors usually have written books and research materials for which they advocate story telling to the mentally disturbed in order to help in the organization of their thought, ideas and activities. Stories are not only important to the mentally disturbed but also necessary for all.

Good communication skills and leadership personality is as a result of well formed mental operations during development stages of the brain. Most of the good managers and orators of the world have grown with stories.  Stories in the school environment are usually written and children are taught on how to read them.  Apart from the mere reading of stories, children are assisted to understand and interpret the meaning in the story so as to obtain the moral lesson.  It is these simple moral lesson taught through stories that help in the formation of a well formed individual (Shaw, 2002).  Virtues and ideological aspects of the mind are developed through the exposure to many situations found in stories.

In contrast to the majority opinion that stories are for children, it is worth understanding that stories are for both children and adults.  Taking an example with business environment in management strategies especially in big companies, managers make good use of stories to organize their employees and as form of motivation.  Managers who lack wordy and concrete explanations to their employees are poor communicators and end up being poor managers. Poor speakers fail in management because their communication skills are limited and do not satisfy the desire of the employee.  Uncomfortable employers are less productive.  If information is laid down in a manner that is not understandable to the receiver, there is high chance of wrong translation and interpretation hence poor feedback. Stories are therefore important in the motivation of the employers because it is from the stories that a good manager draws examples, motivational clauses and moral values to incorporate them among the employees (Weerdt, 2007).  When this good quality information is taught to them, it helps to organize their ideas, thoughts and they work harmoniously with each other giving a high yield.

In addition to that, good team work is driven by the appropriate team motivational skill. In most firms or companies, the managers are fond of fixing posters, motivational poems, inspirational quotes, inviting speakers from different spheres of life as well as having stories and story books at the disposal of the employees or clients. This builds up a good working environment by keeping the employees occupied and informed.  This information helps to form their thinking processes.

Moreover, stories help in the formation of health mind that is capable of making sound decisions.  Decision making is not an easy task especially when one is in leadership position. For one to make a good leader, they must be widely read.  Good leadership and organizational skills originate from reading, observation and performances.  Stories give the best environment for the development of these skills. In the olden days, stories were given in an informal way in which the young would sit near a fire place with their grand parent for stories (Attwood, Magowan, 2001).  Today, stories are written but few can be presented orally to promote language development for both the young and the old.

In today schooling context, stories are developed and learned at different levels, from early childhood to higher education levels.  For example, in the university level, literature students have got to learn a thorough interpretation of stories so as to be able to tackle many problems associated with their cause of study.  It is after covering large numbers of stories that they are able to teach effectively, if they intend to be teachers or they can still become good writers or orators (Doherty, 1997).

Stress management scholars read more story books to be able to understand the different situations of their clients so that they can assist them in solution to their mental problems.  

In conclusion, stories are good in the development of the thought process of different individual.  Also, stories are not only necessary to children in school but also adults.  Adults can develop good leadership skills, appropriate communication skills and team work organization.  They can also grow morally by reading stories.  In short, it is fair to say that stories develop the organization of ideas, decision making capacity, management skills, hence a better live.  The wholesomeness of an individual is dependent on their mental health and organizational skills which are all developed through complete brain development that is acquired at early stages of life.