Stories of Lala and her friends are stories of Magic, Mystery and Hope. Lala has wisdom from an ancient and unknown tribe who are in the world bringing a sense of hope and help everywhere they go. The stories are often about how in her magical and mysterious way she helps others that are hurt, lost or in danger. Through the power of Lala, her friends are able to communicate with each other and with many other creatures of the forest and places where they travel in an unknown time. Some of Lala's unusual friends come from different far off lands. We join Lala and her tribe of friends for a while somewhere on their journey.
For Mums and Dads:
When we were young, we were all told stories of Myth, Magic and Hope, in one way or another. It's what parents do, for we realize that there is something special about children, they are awake to wonder, until they become immersed in our world of sleep-inducing pastimes, where they become occupied with things that are not always full of wonder.
My kids heard different stories from what you will read in these pages, for the stories were always told in the immediacy of the moment, as it often is with kids, settling them down, getting ready for sleep. With many adventures, new characters coming and going as the years passed.
The essence of the stories is the same, some fun, a little information, some excitement, a little magic of the forest and mystery of our world, a happy, funny or thoughtful ending.
My kids liked the action stories, a lot actually. But funnily enough, as they mentioned to me at some point, "No-one ever dies or gets really hurt in 'Lala stories.'" "Really," says I. "Yea, never," says they, rolling their eyes at me. "Whao, that's strange," says I. I just rolled them back. What else can you do?
The important thing for me as a parent was to keep and encourage that 'sense of wonder' all kids have; so that a seed is buried inside, a seed that may grow from them-selves as they become older.
Of course, many old fashioned traditional 'fairy-tales' contain elements of horror, for whatever reason that may be. They originate in their own age and change somewhat through time. But even those old stories of magic, myth and horror are now visualized in full glory and gory, blasting impressions into our kid's minds, rather than the natural cognitive imagery that develops as they listen to stories being told to them.
In these days it's not far away when our kids become immersed in the technological visual and often negative distractions. Teams of psychologists have studied how to get their emotional hooks into kids and turn them into consumers for life, and unfortunately, that now begins in the early years of wonder.
We all want our kids to be emotionally stable, to care about others and not only the 'selfi'. We want them to have a sense and a feeling of hope, born from inside; especially in these days where all sense of inner value is being manipulated and eroded.
It's not possible or probably even wise to escape that; our kids have to live and survive in the time they are born into, we all know that. But there is something else that we all know. There is 'something' special that lies deep, buried within all of us, that 'something' that falls asleep to wonder, that, in our quiet and truthful moments, we all feel. Sometimes we awake and realize how lost and disconnected or disembodied we are from our self.
If a seed is there that recognizes inherent hope and can maintain a sense of the miraculous of life, even though it's buried and covered over by the necessities and troubles of daily life, then, one day, it may grow, and help support that often fragile structure that we call "our-self". And in the times we live in - every little bit helps.
