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How can we learn from stories? Actually a better question would be “how do we learn from compelling stories?” A couple of weeks ago I took my son to a large computer store. As we wondered round enjoying looking at various computer laptop makes and models I noticed that my son was looking at a man sitting behind a large monitor in the far corner of the shop floor.
“Yes” I replied to the question in his eyes. “He’s watching everybody.” I didn’t have to spell it out that the man behind the monitor was checking for shop lifters.
“I remember when I was about 9.” I said to my son. He immediately rolled his eyes with a “here we go again” look. But this look soon disappeared after i began my story.
“When I was 9 a store detective ran after me as soon as my mother and I came out of a toy shop. Then he put his hands in my pocket looking for stolen items.”
“Did he find anything?” His eyes were now alive with interest and I had his full attention.
“No. Why are you looking disappointed? Were you hoping your dad would be caught stealing?
He smiled and I could see that I was losing his attention again. There was no conflict hence the story had gone flat.
“But after pulling out my old <a href="http://batterytender.cmbazar.com” title=”battery charger“>battery and another small old toy from my pocket he began to say sorry over and over again to my mum who by this time was really angry with the store detective.”
“Did you sue the store?” His interest had now returned. Here was potential for some more excitement.
“No we let them off the hook. Maybe we should have then we’d all have got rich quick.”
By now I had him focused on the important subject matter at hand – petty crime.
“Do you know that in this country if you’re caught stealing and given a criminal record there are some places you will never be able to work again?” I could see that he understood why but his eyes said “that’s unfair.”
I didn’t try to convince him whether it was fair or not (partially because I personally believe in giving people a second chance). Instead I immediately launched into another mini-story to enable him to see the point of view of the law-makers.
“In the office where I work some ladies leave there handbags in the cloakroom even though there is nobody there to constantly keep an eye on things. I’ve left my computer laptop there while changing into jeans before heading home. As far as I remember nothing has ever been stolen from that cloakroom.”
He didn’t answer but instead began to fondle a sleek white Macintosh computer.
But I wasn’t done with him yet. “Why do you think nothing was stolen?”
“Huh? I don’t know.”
“You weren’t really listening were you?”
“I was listening. Maybe because they check people out carefully before they let them work there.”
“That’s exactly what they do.” I replied with a feeling that I had driven home a vital point which I hoped would help to keep him on the straight and narrow.
This whole teaching process did not take very long at all but was far more effective than simply telling my son that it was not a good idea to steal things in departmental stores.
As we exchange ideas and concepts I don’t believe we can tell each other enough good stories to make vital information not only more palatable but more memorable as well. I believe that we learn more easily from compelling stories because they tend to stick in our minds better than dry factual content. This is usually because of the strong emotional content of these stories.
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