Fictional vs Religious stories: Would you prefer to read fictional character stories over religious ones to children?
My name is Anoop Pillai and I’m the author of the Pinky-Boo and Gumberstonz series. As a kid who grew up hearing religious stories from a religious mother, I can share my opinion on this topic and what I think I would do if I were in the above situation. So, if you would like to know more…read on!
It really is a subjective thing and I must say that before going any further. A toddler’s age would matter on how they perceive any story. Some of the stories we share with them have long-lasting effects in their life, so during the formative years, which I consider until 7 or 8 years, I definitely would love for them to read something that’s closer to reality, or as close as it can get.
Both Religious stories and Fictional stories have their own pros and cons. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy those religious stories with great morals. I loved images my mother painted of all these wonderful characters and all the right things they would do. It was just magical, transporting me to a completely different world. There was a clear distinction between black and white, good and bad – and in the end, the good would always triumph over the evil. It gave me a sort of satisfaction and happiness. Somewhere in my mind, I also strived to be idealistic like these religious characters. But then, when I think back about it, that is one of the problems I see with religious stories.
Life isn’t perfect and it isn’t meant to be…
For me, life is a sum of all these little imperfections. I absolutely try to improve every day and strive to work on my weaknesses, but that’s a never-ending process I feel. Maybe, life isn’t meant to be perfect. When you take the religious fiction characters, they are just too perfect. I don’t remember in any of those stories that I had read or heard from my parents or grandparents, where the religious character had to work on a considerable character flaw or an imperfection. I must admit that I have not taken the time to read any religious novels, maybe I should…but take this as my general observation.
As an author of Fictional stories, I try to weave characters as close to real-life as possible. I find it more interesting when a character can relate to a next-door neighbor or a teacher or your postman. It just brings you closer and the experience becomes more real. While it is hard to make stories realistic all the time, I try to make them believable so that the stories connect with the readers.
Long story short, I would definitely recommend reading some fictional stories with touches of reality as a bedtime activity for children. At least, during their formative years. Something that would assure them making mistakes is fine, life is full of challenges and we all work hard to overcome them. That was one big factor for me while I was writing the Pinky-Boo and Gumz series.
Now that I have shared my perspective regarding fictional cartoon characters and religious characters, let me take a moment to also make a shameless plug about Pinky-Boo and Gumberstonz series. If you have a young toddler, nephew/niece, or know a young kid, please check out our book. It was written and illustrated with a lot of care and hard work from people who love stories and art. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. Some highlights of our book:
- Interesting and relatable stories
- Bright and beautiful illustrations
- Fun scientific facts
- Post-read activities
- Colouring activities (for hardcover books)
You can check out our books here. Available in both ebook and hardcover versions across all online stores (including Amazon).
Would you like to check out some short stories?
Disclaimer: The above post is an opinion with no intention of mentioning one category is better than the other. The author of this post requests that you do your due diligence when deciding.