5 Fantastic Tales By Jorge Bucay

Introducing your child to reading has a myriad of benefits. There are also specific tales and stories that can stimulate critical thinking and a reflective spirit. Today we take a closer look at five children’s stories by Jorge Bucay that are found in that category.

Jorge Bucay is a writer and therapist. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1949. He graduated with a doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires in 1973.

After many academic credentials and great reputation in his field, he began participating in television programs that discussed psychology. He also hosted a program.

Regarding his literary phase, Bucay tries to offer the reader therapeutic tools so that the reader can help himself.

That is also Bucay’s goal with his fairy tales. Although many are not categorized as such, they are “stories to think about”.

His stories are aimed at young readers to inspire them to ask questions to find the answers to them.

5 tales by Jorge Bucay

The chained elephant

The first story by Jorge Bucay that we want to share is about a child who visits the circus for the first time. Everyone was impressed by the elephant’s strength and wildness. It was also the animal that caught the child’s attention.

However, the child could not understand how the elephant remained chained with a thick chain attached to a pole in the ground when the show was over.

Why does the elephant not flee? He asked himself. The child grew up without getting an answer until someone helped him figure it out.

He eventually re-listed that the answer lies in self-limitation – it concerns the elephant as much as humans. They can live chained all their lives without questioning it.

Sadness and anger

This story may be a little too abstract for children to understand the basic idea. It has a very subtle form to describe the nature of these two emotions.

It is one of Jorge Bucay’s shortest stories. It will help your children understand their feelings. It will also teach them how to identify and manage their emotions.

Obstacle

This is one of Jorge Bucay’s tales that has to do with self-limitation. It tells the story of a man who walks quietly on a path. Suddenly he sees a big city in the distance. A city where all his goals and desires live.

He then decides to visit the city. Although the road seems easy at first, several difficult obstacles appear along the way and make the main character struggle to get to the city.

When he sees a child smiling at him, the man asks: “Why are you laughing at me?” The child’s response comes at the end of the story and  makes it clear to the reader that many times the limitations and boundaries are inner states that we create for ourselves.

Greed

This tale consists of the story of a successful man who finds a coffin full of coins on his farm. Even though he thinks he is not greedy, he begins to imagine what he can do with so much money. Later in the story, the neighbor claims that the coffin is his because his grandfather was the one who had buried it.

The end of the story, even if it is simple,  makes us think about the real intentions of the people. We often contradict ourselves. The story also encourages us to reflect on the danger of ambition.

Encourage yourself to fly

This story is about a father who teaches his son how to “fly”. He invites him to try his wings by jumping off a cliff.

The son begins to be influenced by the negative opinions of people around him and begins to doubt the task his father has given him. Instead, he decides to jump from a tree. When he does, he falls to the ground.

After the fall, he asks his father for an explanation and he finds the real reason why the father suggested the first hope. This story can help children learn to deal with setbacks and to take risks,  even when they are afraid.

The importance of reading to children

There are many authors who have written stories that invite contemplation in your child. The goal of these stories is to stimulate critical thinking.

Listening to stories and reading can help children develop their vocabulary. This will help their ability to spell and in the long run to express themselves.

Parents should keep in mind that  reading is never a waste of time. The opposite is true here because it creates an environment that stimulates dialogue.

It also stimulates the emergence of great thoughts that will be with them throughout their childhood and for the rest of their lives.

Swedish publications

Come on, let me tell you – tales that taught me to live, Bazar Förlag, 2006.