Tell Me a Story

Let me tell you a story.  Once upon a time, not very long ago, the Military Child Education Coalition started a program called Tell Me a Story.  As they put it on their MCEC web page, the coalition wanted “to empower our military children by using literature and their own stories in a way that fosters skills for resilience, strong peer and parent connections, a sense of pride and accomplishment, and a caring community.”

Tell Me A Story events revolve around a pre-selected book.  Parents and children listen to the story together, then go off in small groups to discuss it with a facilitator. At the end, every family gets a copy of the book to take home.

What’s particularly nice about this program is that the books that are chosen don’t necessarily have anything directly to do with military children in particular.  They are just good stories, enabling any issues and concerns, military-related or not, to come up naturally in conversation.  Some of the books used at recent or upcoming events include Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Theis Raven, Night Catch by Brenda Ehrmantraut, How to Bake an American Pie by Karma Wilson, Verdi by Janell Cannon, and

The Remarkable Farkle McBride by John Lithgow.

Tell Me a Story Events are always free to the families. The cost per family is around $14, mostly covering the cost of the book. Local individuals, service organizations, and businesses underwrite the costs, and MCEC provides marketing materials, training, and some supplemental materials.

For more information about Tell Me A Story, contact TMAS@MilitaryChild.org or phone the MCEC world headquarters office at 254-953-1923.  If you live in the San Diego area and would like to sponsor one of these events, I would like to help!