B.A.M. Adventures :: Becoming A Man

I discovered it Easter afternoon. We were sitting on the porch, three generations, listening to Papa tell stories about growing up in the 1930’s. Stories about skinning rabbits before he went to school – jumping thirty feet into a sawdust pile – catching catfish with his bare hands! Story after story of adventure, courage, and hilarious antics.

As Papa told stories I watched the eyes of his grandsons. They were all engaged, from 14 – 29 years old. Their breathing and their bodies moved in rhythm with the pulse of Papa’s stories.

Adventure was the name of the game with Papa as the main character in a world full of adventure, danger, and challenges at every turn.

It wasn’t just the adventures. You can read about adventures in magazines and watch them on TV. This was different. Everyone on that porch was connected to the adventures. It wasn’t just anyone in these stories, it was their grandfather. Papa was the main character. He was the one riding horses, selling fresh eggs door to door, and clearing the fields with a mule and plow. Papa was the hero.

Something inspiring happens when the hero is your own relative. If it happened to him it could happen to you. You too, could be the hero. Maybe it runs in the bloodline. Maybe you are destined to be a hero too.

Suddenly I realized there was a huge BONUS that came free with the secret. Watching Papa tell stories I realized I was experiencing something priceless. It was more than just words. It was family. There was a sense of connection – a common bond that binds us together.

We weren’t in separate rooms playing video games and watching television. We were together as a family. Three generations - no one was forced to be there - but we stayed for hours. We were all drawn into the stories and the experience. Families spend $$$$$ on elaborate vacations trying to create great family moments. Here we were experiencing the ultimate family moment for FREE.

Here is the shocker I discovered last week. Papa was not just telling stories. He was giving his grandchildren a competitive edge. Yale University researchers, Jerome Singer and Dorothy Singer recently reported that “Children who… have parents who foster storytelling have cognitive and affective advantages.”1 I thought I was just listening to great storytelling. I did not realize that Papa was also equipping his grandchildren with a competitive advantage. Storytelling is not only fun, but it can lead to improved prioritizing, decision making, and creativity.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Parents everywhere are frantically trying to give their children a competitive advantage by overworking and over stressing them. After school tutoring, music, sports, college prep classes, volunteer work, and more. The real competitive advantage cost nothing and actually reduces stress. Plus, it is the secret that can inspire a young man’s soul.

Storytelling is the single most powerful tool you can use to build strong healthy young men. That is right. The most powerful tool that you have for building strong healthy men is the art of storytelling. It is the secret that can inspire the core of a young man’s soul to become who he was created to be.

Does it seem a little odd to you that storytelling is such a powerful tool? I was a little skeptical myself until I did further research.

Amy Kyratzis at the University of California at Santa Barbara says that “Beliefs and values are passed on to children through language practices” - storytelling. Plus she observed that for many people storytelling can communicate “the general message that life’s challenges have the potential to be transformed to energy, hope, and humor.”2

This is a big deal. Teaching values and life skills is critical for building strong healthy men. Who would have thought that the most powerful way to do this is storytelling?

Watch a five year old boy zooming around the house with a cape being Superman. Adventure is essential for healthy young men. Storytelling with your kids creates adventure and excitement, especially when the stories are about you and other real people. Movies and TV are passive and visual. No imagination is necessary - just sit and watch. The screen does everything for you. Storytelling is different. Storytelling fosters imagination.

Think about yourself when you listen to a good story. The story beings and your shoulders loosen. You feel the tension leaving your finger tips and your neck and lower back relax as you sink into your chair. Your eye’s and ear’s are alive with attentiveness. They are soaking up every detail of the story. Soon your mind is only focused on the story. Nothing else matters expect that perfect moment and the story.

What does every parent want for their children? High self-esteem! We all want our children to become adults who have high self-esteem and self-worth. Storytelling can be a major tool to build self-confidence and personal power.

Stories that show overcoming obstacles can give your son the confidence that he too can overcome his challenges. Laughing at the mistakes that you made can help your son learn to laugh at his own mistakes rather than being crushed by them.

You will not always be around to show your son the way. Are you helping him develop the self-esteem and confidence to be successful when you are not around?

Read the next scenario and see if this story sounds like your home or someone you know?

Children in their rooms with the door closed, dad watching TV in the living room while mom is in another room. A family living in one house but living separate lives.

Storytelling can bring people together. Start telling stories and creating laughter, and see who comes running to find out what is happening. That is what happened at Papa’s house that day. First it was a few people listening to the stories and then a few more trickled in. Finally everyone was in the room and engrossed in the stories.

The benefits of storytelling are clear. It opens the door to a young man’s soul. It builds character. It creates community. It teaches values. Plus, it is free. We did not spend a dime to listen to Papa. Watching a movie at the theater can cost $9. Television can cost over $100 a month and that doesn’t include the flat screen TV and the surround sound system. None of them create the feeling and the experience that we got for free that afternoon. It was priceless. The best things in life really are free.

Why more people aren’t sharing their stories

With so many benefits, why aren’t more people sharing their stories with their children? There are three myths that some people believe.

No stories???? We hear this a lot. “I don’t have any significant stories to tell.” Baloney. Your life is one big story. You have funny stories, life stories, and courageous stories. You may not remember them or you may not know how to tell them but you have tons of stories. Plus, the process for finding and developing them is easier than you might think.

Myth of storytelling # 2 – They are not interested

We recently received an email from a grandmother who said that they have eight grandchildren, but her husband does not tell his stories (which are great) to his grandchildren because he thinks they are not interested.

What a mistake!! Let’s go back to Papa for a moment. One of his grandsons in college frequently gathers his friends into his dorm room, calls Papa on a speaker phone, and they listen to Papa tell stories. Here they are a bunch of cool college guys sitting around the speaker phone listening to stories. I have watched this same grandson play video games for 12 hours straight! These are techno savvy young men who gladly put the video games on pause to hear the stories.

Are you like the hundreds of people we hear that don’t think they can tell stories? The problem is not that you can’t tell stories. Most of us just haven’t been taught the simple process of how to do it. Anyone can learn to tell engaging, powerful stories.

We want you to enroll for an incredible webinar to equip you with the tools to inspire the soul of the young men in your family with storytelling.

Ideas without a system to implement them are usually just ideas. This is why we have developed a complete system that you can use to develop and share your stories with your son.

Sure, you can simply remember a story and start telling it, but it can be even more powerful if you know how to craft the story into something that your son will remember the rest of his life.

Plus, if have a collection of powerful, funny, and insightful stories, you can use them to create great life lessons and build confidence.

The Finding and Telling Your Stories Webinar not only teaching you the types of stories that you need to tell your son and how to remember these stories, it also provides examples that you can hear and a workbook to keep notes on your stories.

Don’t let another week go by where you are not inspiring the souls of the young men in your family! For only $37 you can attend this ground-breaking webinar! The "Finding and Telling Your Story Webinar" will be held Thursday, May 29th from 8-9 p.m. EST.

“Amazingly simple”… is the phrase we hear often when people learn the simple yet very powerful process that John Brantley and Drew Brantley will reveal in this webinar. Here are just a few of the secrets that we will uncover in this inaugural web learning experience.

Webinar's are an incredibly easy way to access powerful information from the comfort of your own home or office. A webinar (a seminar on the web) uses a combination of computer technology and a telephone. We will supply you with a web site and the login information for joining the computer portion of the webinar. Once you are logged in on the computer you can call, using a cell phone or land line, the number we will provide for you. You will listen to the conference on the phone and watch on your computer screen as we reveal the simple steps to learn to find and tell your own stories.

If you do not have access to a computer you can call in on the conference line and listen to the audio portion of the webinar and still gain the powerful process John and Drew will reveal!

Can’t attend during that time? We can send you an audio CD as a substitute for attending the webinar! It's that easy! (Shipping charges will apply to audio CD's). For more information on obtaining the audio CD of the webinar call us at (706) 795-3557.

It seems crazy, I know, that the single most powerful tool you have to build strong healthy men and inspire, instill values, and create community is so easily accessible.

It only takes one generation to change the world. Now is the time for you to be a part of this life changing movement.

1. Singer, J., Singer D. G. “Preschoolers’ Imaginative Play As Precursor of Narrative Consciousness”. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, Vol. 25(2), (2006) 97-117.

2. Kyratzis, A. “Language and Culture: Socialization through Personal Story-Telling Practice”. Human Development, 48: (2005) 146-150.