Storytelling was once central to winter and a rich tradition in homes, for both adults and children. It was part of life in every household. During meals, family members would share anecdotes, incidents, and updates from the day. Elders, drawing on their experience, would enlighten the young ones face-to-face. This created a shared emotional space. Children would wait for their parents and grandparents at bedtime to narrate stories to them. Bedtime was truly enjoyable time for children and they waited eagerly for the night to fall. After dinner, children would gather around their elders, curious to hear from them. The Elders, too, enjoyed narrating tales, to see the joy on the children's faces.

Through stories, children were transported into an imaginative world. Although stories were narrated for entertainment, many were embedded with moral lessons, history, and education. Children were eager to listen. Such tales instilled in them patience and listening skill. Spending time with children was considered valuable.
In those days, families lived jointly; nuclear family system did not exist. There were fewer means of entertainment and limited sources of information, so people learned from one another. In this way, face to face communication was a vital part of daily life.
Nowadays, storytelling no longer exists in the same form. While storytelling still continues, stories have shifted from the human voice to screens. Modern gadgets have replaced the traditional mode. Children today neither gather around nor wait patiently to listen or sit with elders. The presence of elders hardly pleases or amazes them, as elders are no longer the reservoirs of knowledge, information, and wonderful tales. Instead, their presence is often limited to feeding children and engaging them with modern tools so that parents can remain free. As a result, children no longer receive as much attention from their parents. Children now seem to be the architects of their own fate. There are few activities in which parents are actively involved in playing with their children. Parents' involvement once created a wonderland for children, that screens can hardly replicate.
In earlier days, children would wait for the evening to arrive. They played during the day and evenings were exciting because stories of folk creatures and legendary figures such as Rantas, Jin, VanMohniv, Pari, Laila Majuna were narrated.
Today Parents themselves are often busy on the phones, leaving them with little time to spend with their children, for their own comfort or convenience, parents’ hand over their mobile phones to their children to keep them engaged and quiet.
These days parents seem uninterested in the old tradition of engaging with children. Parents and children scroll their screens as if a competition is underway. This constant scrolling has diminished listening skill. Modern practices have replaced traditional ones. Nobody is willing to spend time in an old way, as it is believed that same time can be used to watch far more content. This attitude has developed due to a lack of patience and time, along with blind adoption of modern technology.
Undoubtedly, the traditional way of passing on information through storytelling took much time, as a single story required patience to narrate. However, while listening to elders, children’s imagination would enhance and transport them to another world. Children could relate more with characters and have a long-lasting impact. It develops patience and listening ability among children. Storytelling is embedded with qualities such as attention development and retention. In earlier times there were fewer distractions, and children were able to give complete attention to stories. This helped to develop their power of imagination, and alongside it, their ability to question and think critically with an inquisitive nature. Children felt satisfied when the story had a closed ending, while open -ended stories, made them more curious and ask them repeatedly what would happen next.
The long-lasting impact of storytelling, children would excitedly retell the same stories to one another that they had heard from their elders. During those days, joint family system was common, making storytelling and meaningful conversations a natural part of family life. In the joint families, presence of grandparents who were experienced and wise, were a great gift to children and their presence made the homes lively and warm. When parents were busy in the day, elders took care of the children, keeping them engaged and emotionally secure without making them feel bored or neglected. Grandparents possessed a remarkable skill of narrating stories that filled children with wonder and joy while imparting valuable lessons. Today, however, elders as storytellers have largely been replaced by television and mostly by mobile screens.
We cannot say storytelling is disappearing, rather it remains prevalent, though mode of storytelling has changed. Today, people rarely sit down to listen attentively. Instead of hearing stories, children now watch them, while parents turn to social media for information and engagement. Often children and parents sit side by side, scrolling through screens until their data runs out or sleep overtakes them.
With this new mode of consumption, children are losing patience, as constant scrolling exposes them to excessive content without allowing time for reflection, leading to mental overload. Imagination is no longer nurtured and both patience or listening skills are gradually diminishing. Although modern technology provides instant access to content, but the benefits that traditional storytelling offers remain immense and irreplaceable.

Email:------------------------pirfarhad123@gmail.com