I've been asked by a member here for a few tips on working with kids. The member concerned works with kids at risk. I've already published a blog here about working with 'bad' kids. I'd like to add a little more, just a few basic points particularly in relation to storytelling.

Everyone is a storyteller. Don't think you can't do it. You probably already do but don't know that's what you're doing. When you tell your friends and family about some incident at work or from some other aspect of life, you might notice that they pay you full attention. That's because you are weaving an interesting narrative and they want to find out what happens next.

When you tell stories to kids you can use stories from life, folk tales or contemporary published stories. The way to hold their attention is with a story that keeps them guessing about what is going to happen. If the story surprises them they are satisfied. If they can guess what's coming that's boring. Don't rush it. Draw it out and you'll keep them on the edge of their seats.

Reading to kids from books is great. It shows them that the good time they're having is coming from literature. That encourages them to turn to books for entertainment and leads them to literacy. However, if you can let go off the book and tell the story from memory, you make eye contact with the audience, you read them and from their feedback you know how to pace the story, what to emphasise, what to leave out. Storytelling with a book is great. Storytelling without a book is way more powerful. Try it.

When choosing stories, it's not actually wrong for a story to have a message but if the message value is higher than the entertainment value forget it. Even 'bad' kids will sit and listen for hours if you entertain them well but start giving out overt messages about what they should or shouldn't do and you lose them. If your message is so subtle that they don't even notice it, the story can do it's own work on their subconscious.

For all performers, remember the audience comes first. Don't get caught up in your own ego. It can happen so easily. You start thinking how cool you are and then you lose it. The trick is to make them feel cool about themselves and they'll keep coming back for more.

If you teach kids, look for what they're doing right, not what they're doing wrong. So called 'bad' kids have had people telling them bad stuff about themselves so much they've turned right off. To turn them back on find what they do well and let them know. The same applies to adults too. We all need a self-esteem boost from time to time. But don't be patronising. Even kids can see through that.

I've always found kids to be fun. I had a ball for nine years working as a full-time storyteller. Make sure you're having fun and they will too.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have questions. I'll add another blog on the subject if there's anything more you want to know.

A few people have inspired me in my life but perhaps none more than Harold.

Many years back when I was in my early thirties I went to work as a sales representative for a major publisher of children's books. We sold books direct to schools and I was their high school rep for Sydney. At the time we didn't have a Sydney office and each of the Sydney reps worked from home. This meant we were mostly working on our own. So, from time to time we would get together socially without our partners so we could talk about work. We would have fun together but also had the opportunity to discuss work issues.

Most of us were in the same age bracket—late twenties to mid thirties. Harold was about 70 but somehow it never mattered. He was as young as we were and joined in with everything we did.

Harold had been a highly respected primary school principal in Sydney and had a reputation for his progressive approach to education. At 65 He was required to retire from the Education Department but Harold was not ready to retire. He started a new career as a publisher's representative. And thanks to his reputation and attitude to life he was very good at it too.

Harold always had an open mind and was always ready to listen to new ideas. He was a very intelligent and highly-educated man but he never acted as if he knew more than you. He would listen to your ideas with interest and always treated everyone with respect.

Harold was very fit and physically active. I think he was still playing A-grade tennis when he was approaching his eighties. He jogged along the beach front at Cronulla every day. When we got a new sales rep who lived near him she said she had seen him jogging. Harold asked 'Why didn't you say hello?' This woman, who was about 30 said, 'I could never catch up with you.'

The company was quite generous towards us. We would have a sales conference every year and each time they provided a special activity as a treat. One year it was a ride in a Tiger Moth open airplane. The owner of one of these planes was a friend of our boss and he had arranged for a few pilots to take us up one at a time. Tiger Moths are old biplanes and are often used for aerobatics. But our boss had told the pilots not to do anything too adventurous. I was one of the first to go up and the pilot was complying. We did a few basic maneuvers like barrel rolls. As the day went on they got a little more daring and the pilots were doing more and more tricks. We were watching from the ground as the last of us was having his ride. The pilot was doing just about everything including putting the plane in a dive so it went into a spin with the engine off then starting the motor just when it looked like it was about to hit the ground. 'WOW' we all said. Someone asked who was in the plane. Someone else said 'Harold'. When the plane landed Harold got out and was grinning from ear to ear. He told me later that he had told the pilot not to hold back, he wanted to experience everything. He was almost 80 at the time.

Another year we had our conference on the shore of a lake and the special activity was sailing in small catamarans—they can be very fast. First we had a race. I skippered one of the boats as I am an experienced sailor. After the race we took the others for joy rides. Harold came out with me. He had no fear. He wanted to experience whatever I could show him about sailing.

Over the years my colleagues and I have gone our separate ways but we had developed a bond and many of us still stay in touch. I used to write to Harold from time to time and I think he was 91 when I arranged a reunion near his home. He wasn't quite as active as he used to be but was still far more active than many people twenty or thirty years his junior. I noticed that his hearing had deteriorated. Otherwise he was still quite healthy and did not need glasses even for reading.

A few years back, when he was 92, Harold entered hospital for a hip operation. He went into a coma while he was under anesthetic and never recovered.

Now that I have reached 60, I'm aware that my attitude will decide how much I get out of the rest of my life. I am inspired by the spirit of Harold who, to my mind, never got old. May I do it half as well as he did.