Making Room for Everyone

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Bill Gordh. Making Room for Everyone

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MAKING ROOM

FOR EVERYONE

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Pay attention to pronouns in animal stories. There is a tendency in all of us to assign pronouns according to our sense of a particular animal. For instance, without even thinking, a bear or lion will become a “he” and a kitty or bunny will be a “she.” With the story game “Going on a Bear Hunt,” I specifically call the bear a “she” throughout. Sometimes after the story I will lead a storytelling follow-up so the children can express their ideas. I say, “Well after the bear’s picnic, some of the children went home; some went to the movies; some went to the ice cream shop. What do you think the bear did?” Most of the time, even with having said “she” for the bear multiple times, the children will suggest, “He went back to his cave” or “He went to get pizza.” You will note in this volume that sometimes I have assigned “she” to many animals to try and balance the book with important male and female characters. I have also used “it” for animals at times, but find when they are main characters, it is easier for the children to relate to either a “he” or a “she” than an “it.”* You do not need to try and remember which character is a “he” or “she”; it is more just being aware of how you are using your pronouns. This is part of our goal for Making Room for Everyone—using he/she/it and they and being aware that the Bible stories are heavily weighted toward male main characters.

You will also note that often the main character in a story has a specific name. When I found these stories, sometimes the characters had names and sometimes they were just “the young girl” or “the little boy.” With our focus on and openness to different cultures, it seems like a nice chance to normalize what might at first seem like unusual names. By having these names used in stories, children listening will come to like the names and if some of the listeners know the name, it will reassure them of their special place in our community.

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