One of the most enjoyable parenting experiences I had as a father was reading bedtime stories and fairy tales to my daughter. What made it more interesting and enjoyable for my little tyke was a crystal rabbit figurine a friend had given her. It was related to the story I was reading to her and she instantly adopted the figurine as an important part of the story.

Her favorite story was the Thom Thumb Fairy Tale. She loved looking at the pictures of all the little creatures in the story. I can't recall how many times I had to read that fairy tale. Of course she wanted a figurine for each of the animals in the story. She said, "Daddy, I want Tom Thumb to ride my animals." How could I ignore that adorable, pleading little face. Before I knew it, we had acquired a small collection of crystal animals.

As an adult, you have probably forgotten the story of Tom Thumb so here's the story in a nutshell. Tom was born tiny so he played with the little creatures in the forest, rode on a snail, got swallowed by a fish, was found by a cook and given to the King as a page, rode a mouse and had a fight with a cat, was imprisoned, rescued by a moth and taken to live with butterflies. Over a period of time and a number of rereadings of the fairy tale, we had acquired a nice beginning of a crystal figurine collection from just one story. There were many other stories and crystal figurines as well.

What really made this fairy tale experience unique was my daughters creativity. She found a small figure in one of her play sets and put him on each of the crystal animals as I reached that animal in the story. She had great fun playing along with the story. To her, Tom was riding her crystal animals and that was what it was all about.

When her little friends came over to play, she would take them to her room and tell the story from memory. Tom rode each crystal animal as the story progressed. Of course she had her own version of the story which changed each time she told it. Sometimes I overheard her storytelling and was surprised to hear that Tom had to slay dragons, rescue a Princess, swim a river to free a fox in a trap and that the butterflies had made wings for him so Tom could fly.

The creativity and ingenuity of kids is remarkable. Sometimes all it takes is one small action to set their little minds racing with new ideas and new ways at looking at things. My daughter became a very good writer and story teller in elementary school. As a teenager she excelled in creaative excuses as to why she occasionally missed the Friday or Saturday night curfew.

If you have a young child ready for bedtime stories you might want to consider using a crystal animal to enhance the story. I can only say from experience that it was a wonderful activity for both of us.

Each child is different. Your youngster may or may not enjoy having the figurine to play with while you are reading, so it isn't necessary to invest a lot of money in a crystal animal collection unless you want it for your whole family. Nor is it necessary to have a figurine of every animal in the story. This is something as a parent you will have to judge.

I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I will never forget the warm, tender moments I had reading those stories and fairy tales to my daughter over thirty years ago, and how Tom Thumb rides crystal animals. My only regret is that I didn't write down my daughter's creative versions of the stories. Those stories would be a book of fairy tales in their own right.