My son is four years old. Every night for the last three months, he has asked me and my wife to tell him a nervous (and long) story. He loves stories but the funny part is the request that they be “nervous” – ironically, this can only add to any feelings of being scared when going to sleep but it also makes for a challenge to recall your best nervous stories every night. Not your champion stories. Not your funniest stories. Not stories when you were the hero. Nope, just “hey tell me about a time that you were nervous… oh and make it long.” What’s interesting is that even though I ran out of ideas after day three, we haven’t missed a night yet. Maybe it’s because his expectation is pulling them out of me- almost as if the ability to produce and create is actually there all the time but we just need something or someone to draw it out of us.
