Zimbabwean bedtime stories
Some nights I like to read bedtime stories to my 3-year-old son. I have been told, and strongly believe reading aloud to my son, even before he is able to read and write himself, is very beneficial. I find bedtime reading is another way I can bond with him, and get to know his likes and dislikes, gauge what and how much he knows and teach him new things, as he tends to ask so many questions after a story.
He loves to be read to and often recites parts of the stories along with me as I read. You see, I have a small collection of books, and they are all now quite familiar to him. I would really like to add to this collection, and introduce him to more stories he is not familiar with, and, most importantly, Zimbabwean stories.
It is saddening to think that my son has never been read a Zimbabwean bedtime story. I’ve read to him about penguins and polar bears in the snow, kangaroos and koalas in the Australian outback, seals and dolphins swimming in the ocean, all things which are foreign and irrelevant to our sub-tropical, land-locked nation. I fear he may be learning more about the world out there than he is about the world around him. I think its important to read stories to our children, involving things, places and people that they can really relate to.
The formative years of children are the most important, and many lessons they learn at this stage have a lasting impression on them. I want my son to grow up learning about our country, every step of the way.
A while back, I searched high and low, for local (in both authorship and subject matter) books for children below 5 years and was disappointed. Apart from the age-old “Sunrise Readers” collection that was recommended to me on one of my many quests, are there any Zimbabwean children’s books out there, for this age group?