To wish dh had never invented "story from your head"

[pilkers]

Dd is 2.5, a while back she went through a phase of playing up at bedtime and to settle her dh would go back in and tell her a "story from his head", she loved this for some reason and now it's become part of her bedtime routine, oh AND she wants one for her nap. I'm totally shit at them and start panicking when I'm reading her book cos I know "story from my head" is coming up. What will it be this time? Another classic about finding a lost cat and taking it back to its owner? That crap one about the fairies that rambled on too long? That frankly shit one about baking a cake?

Agh. I love reading her bedtime story but I long for the day I put her in her cot and she doesn't ask me sweetly for "story from your head now?".

Is this a tradition in anyone else's household? Do you struggle for inspiration or am I just an unimaginative old bag?

AIBU to wish dh had never started the whole bloody tradition?

I do this sometimes, I usually retell the story of what they've got up to that day but add in exciting or funny things that didn't actually happen, or tell a story about what we are doing the next day. I'm not very good at making complete stories up from scratch.

Sometimes (When I'm desperate!) I do a bit of age appropriate guided meditation, e.g - imagine you're on a beach, what you can hear, smell, feel etc lots of repetition and relaxing happy thoughts. Focus on breathing and listening to your heart beat.

I would just make it a DH special thing.

You could do something else special, maybe singing or we do "story of the day" where I tell him what I did today ("and then I answered some emails, and had a chat with x about the news") and it always ends "and now it's now!"

If you are set on it then as others have said get DC to set the theme of the story or certain aspects of it which can spark your imagination.

Another vote for story cubes! You can get general, fantasy, activity sets - so good for on the spot stories.

My Dad always used to tell me Fairy Tinkerbell stories that he made up as he went along, I loved it. Mum would read to me from books, I can still remember her reading Anne of Green Gables and even now I hear it in her voice in my head when I’m rereading the series. You don’t have to do the stories from your head and your DH doesn’t have to read from books, between the two of you you are giving your DC the best of both.

I’d cheat and steal storylines from chns books I’ve read

You need an ongoing story series so you don’t need to create from scratch. May I suggest a detective animal, who goes about the world solving crime?

We had it for our childhood and it’s now carried on to the next generation.

My brothers fav story as a child was the one about the one eyed teddy that looked exactly like his, being bought and taken home where he had a button sewed on for an eye, resulting in him being able to see again and living happily ever after with the boy who loved him very much.

It helps to follow a formula.

Once upon a time
there was [an animal]
called [name]
who had [three physical features]

One day
she woke up and it was [insert weather condition]
So she decided to [insert activity]

She got ready to [activity].
First she [mundane detail] then she [ mundane detail#2] and then she [mundane detail#3]

But then she realized that [essential item is missing/ broken]. Whatever could she do now?

First she looked here/tried this, then she looked there/ tried that and when she couldn’t find fix she looked there/ tried this.

It was no use. Poor little [name& animal] was terribly upset that she [cried, hid under a chair, etc]. This was terrible. She felt awful. Oh poor little thing.

But then, just when she thought things would never get better, [ she had an idea/ the doorbell rings and friend arrives/ she sees the missing item/ a magical fairy waves a wand etc]

She was so (emotion) and so she was able to (original task) and then set off to (original activity) where she had a lovely time.

Later that evening when she was all tucked up in her bed, she yawned (actually yawn) as she snuggled into her soft pillow, and (yawn again) and snuggled under her soft duvet (yawn again) and thought what a lovely day.

Just blag it and recycle some old fairy tale..:)

Ouch! We went through that phase except that in our case daddy kindly introduced the idea that ds got to name a character, object and place for the story. Mind numbing!!
Top tip. Have a few stories from her actual books in mind and adapt them with dd and your names in them and a place familiar to you. But stick with the storyline. She won't notice!

Tell her that stories from my head are special daddy things
Read to her when it's just you
Over to Dad otherwise
Job done

I do Disney films, Lion King is a good one. And beauty and the beast. Dd has never seen them so thinks I'm making them up 😳

I refuse to do this. Tell him it’s something daddy likes to do with him.
I can make up stories... just not at bedtime. By that point I’ve had enough.

Make every story about the same characters and their world. My Dad used to tell us the stories of Squirrel Nutkin and Nutmeg Charlie - they did things in the woods with two little girls (me and my sister - not nearly as dodgy as it sounds).

He'd steal things from other books. So Nutmeg Charlie would eat too many acorns and get stuck in a hole in owl's tree, and all the other woodland creatures would have to come and pull him out.

I thought it was magical. He was just an awesome plagiarist.

My DH used to tell a series of Hunter stories which basically involved huntsmen going into the wood at the end of our road to shoot the animals only to be foiled dd (and later dd and ds) who saved all the animals and defeated the huntsmen through slapstick means. These were invariably far too exciting thus totally defeating the purpose of a bedtime story so I would have go in for a calming lullaby to finish the job! My favourite on here so far has to be There was also a story about people who lived inside a trombone. Bit sad to read some posters on here saying just don't do it. What this thread shows is that the story can be literally about anything - what is special is that it is something just for them.

I feel your pain, OP - this is the kind of thing DH does, not thinking that we'll have to repeat it every night for the next 3 years!

I'd get hold of a big book of short bedtime stories (the 1-minute type ones), learn one while toothbrushing is happening, and then recite that.

going to be the annoying soppy mum but do it with them.becasue one day it will stop.and when it does itl be all too soon I promise!you wont get this time back and its one of the things with kids you never get/have to do again.and you will miss it.
its such a vital bonding between kids and parents when you have story time.
keep in your head.beginning middle and end.take the first thing you see.a picture frame.make up a story of the magic picture frame.insert name of characters that can walk into it and into a new world.have adventure.then end.
if you saw a cat on a wall today.make up its story.
magic duvet cover that turns into a flring machine.
bed that underneath it is ur childs kingdom
toy that speak
what did you have for tea.make it become the bet recipe in the world and ur dc become famous for cooking it
ur dc get a part in their favourite tv show.
I don't no how people can say they cant come up with tales to tell.

Not RTFT. There was a time where I wanted to not do what DH did for bedtime anymore.

So I started to say xxx is Daddies thing with you, mummy wants a special mummy thing. For me it was a (SHORT!) lullaby type song, that years later Is still no bother! Xx

My DH does this. All the stories revolve around our pets adventures

Ha ha, yes my daughter asks for this and I don’t enjoy doing it either. When I do do it I usually recount real events like a birthday a party but inserting the names of her teddies into the story. She asks me to sing her lullabies sometimes too and I usually sing somewhere over the rainbow or songs from the sound of music!

Making up stories is tough - if it wasn’t, everybody would be a writer! Go to the local library and get out fat copies of Greek myths, Eastern European fairy tales, African Anansi tales, Brothers Grimm’s original tales, and whatever else you can find - it’s a treasure trove of stories. Do your own retelling with perhaps changing some facts, making them less gory if necessary and replacing the heros’ names with your kids’ ones - and you’re sorted, while your kids unwittingly acquire a knowledge of a very important body of literature Win-win

Oh, and Aesop’s fables. They are a must, especially if you have pets.

Encourage her to tell you a story from her head

My grandfather (always had a houseful of kids - foster kids, own kids, grandkids, neighbours' kids) used to make fantastic mash ups of classic fairy tales: goldilocks sat In the porridge etc etc - In a very dead pan way. We all loved them.

You can buy stirycards which will help you make up a story. My son loved these www.amazon.co.uk/eeBoo-TELL-ME-STORY-FAIRYTALE/dp/B001FYH1UC/ref=pd_aw_lpo_21_tr_img_2?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforum-21&refRID=3SJNH2NPQ1Z84N3BZPPN or story cubes www.amazon.co.uk/Creativity-Hub-Rorys-Story-Cubes/dp/B003NFJMBM/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=story+cubes&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1528479033&sr=8-3 eBay might sell them cheaper.

Get a pack of story cards or those story dice to roll!