One of my favorite authors on writing, Lisa Cron, tells us that stories help us preemptively deal with future events. Her book, Story Genius, helped me better understand why this is.
Without going into too much detail, humans tell stories to help us envision the future–and envision how we’ll deal with the future–as if it were to happen the same as in the story.
Did you notice that as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in full force, views of the movie Contagion (2011) skyrocketed? Well, that tells you that people were (and are) trying to learn how to navigate the pandemic using story.
So, what does this mean for kids dealing with fear?
Stories can help kids contextualize, understand, and re-frame their fear.