How Storytelling Can Help Your Child Open Up About School

Why It's So Hard for Kids to Talk About School

You pick your child up from school, the sun is shining, you've finally made it to the end of another exhausting day—and there it is: the question you’ve asked a hundred times before. “How was school?”

And once again, the answer is a shrug, a “fine,” or worse, silence. You sense there's more under the surface—maybe stress, social struggles, or learning frustrations—but you don’t want to pressure or push. How can you reach them without making it feel like an interrogation?

This is a dilemma many parents face. Asking the right questions at the right time helps, of course—this article explores that in depth—but sometimes even that isn't enough. Children, especially between 6 and 12 years old, often lack the words or emotional distance to talk directly about what’s going on at school. But give them a story—a narrative with heroes, challenges, twists—and something magical happens.

Stories Create Safe Emotional Distance

Imagine you're reading a book together one night, and the protagonist—a curious but nervous 9-year-old—gets scolded by their teacher for not finishing their homework. Your child suddenly perks up.

"That’s not fair," they murmur. Or maybe they launch into a critique of the teacher in the story. What they’re really doing is speaking for themselves—trying out thoughts and feelings they aren't yet able to claim as their own.

Stories give children a ‘safe proxy.’ They can process feelings, experiences, and fears by projecting them onto a fictional character. In doing so, they begin to recognize and articulate those emotions, slowly transferring them to their own reality. If you’ve ever noticed your child get unusually passionate about a character’s school problems, chances are they’re really talking about themselves.

To delve deeper into what your child might be revealing—even if it doesn’t seem obvious at first—this article explores how listening deeply can unlock hidden layers.

Reading Is Good—But Storytelling Is Better

While reading a book is a wonderful shared activity, telling stories—especially ones you make up together—goes even further. Why? Because when you co-create a story, your child isn’t just passively consuming an experience; they’re shaping it. That’s a key difference for children who often feel powerless in a school environment.

Try this: Set aside ten minutes during wind-down time to “invent” a tale. Start with something simple, like: "Once upon a time, there was a child named Alex—just your age—who hated math homework." And then ask: "What do you think Alex did about it?" From there, your child becomes the storyteller, and in doing so, begins to express emotions and ideas in a way that feels safe and playful.

If your child is reluctant at first, model it for them. Show how the fictional character faces problems—bullying, struggling to understand a lesson, getting a bad grade—and overcomes them with creativity and courage. The goal is not perfection. The goal is connection.

Real Stories from Real Families

One mom I spoke with, Sophie, started weaving nightly tales about "Captain Leo," a brave space explorer faced with the challenge of navigating Moon School—an academy for kids from across the galaxy. She was stunned when her 8-year-old son began giving Leo eerily accurate problems that mirrored his real-life anxieties: feeling different, not finishing his writing on time, and clashing with a bossy group in class.

Sophie didn’t jump in with solutions. She asked, “Why do you think Leo feels that way?” That small shift gave her son permission to unpack his own feelings through Leo—and slowly, through himself.

If your child is particularly resistant to talking, remember that even gentle encouragement makes a difference over time. Storytelling simply adds another layer of empathy and creativity to the process.

Where Technology Meets Storytelling

Of course, as parents, finding the energy to invent tales on the fly every night can be hard. That’s where technology can give us a welcomed hand without becoming a shortcut.

Some educational tools today are harnessing storytelling in surprisingly effective ways. For example, one app can turn your child’s lesson into a personalized audio adventure—one where they become the main character, first name and all. It’s the perfect blend of education and immersion, especially helpful for kids who resist traditional homework or struggle to retain information.

By transforming abstract lessons into engaging narratives, it not only strengthens understanding but also creates an emotional connection to the material. And for kids who learn better by listening—during a car ride or while playing—it becomes an unexpected opportunity to re-engage with school without stress.

Stories As Bridges

At the end of the day, our children don’t always need more questions or more structure. More often, they need a bridge—a path from the world they can’t quite articulate into one they can. Stories offer that bridge.

Whether you’re reading books, inventing characters, or embracing interactive storytelling, each narrative becomes a subtle invitation for your child to say: "That feels like me." And that’s when the real conversations begin—ones that open hearts, not just mouths.

If your child is facing specific school-related struggles, this guide on handling sensitive topics can support you in keeping the lines of communication open without overwhelming them.

And if your child is having trouble connecting socially at school, creating a story around emotional courage or hidden superpowers might be just what they need. You’ll find more ideas for that here.

Final Thoughts

If you're reading this, you're already doing the hard, loving work of showing up for your child. Storytelling won’t solve every challenge, but in a world that often asks them to be small and silent, it gives your child a voice—one they’ll carry both on the page and off.