I don't know if Albert Einstein was talking about big fat fibs when he said this quote I have on my office wall, however, I do believe when we open up a child's mind at an early age through reading to them, it is the key to their future success in life.
Often we would like to pick up a book with a backyard story, especially some of the local legends to read to our kids, but sadly and our local library shelves are looking almost as empty as the parishioners' pockets after forking out for the Falcon.
Last Friday I attended the launch of a book, beautifully illustrated and written by local Māori author Tomoe Ngata. Titled Mauao – Caught by the Dawn, Tamoe has created a reading resource like no other available here in Tauranga Moana and the wider Bay of Plenty rohe.
The beauty of making up stories by embroidering or embellishing the truth is you, the storyteller, get to tailor the journey you are taking your tamariki on when sharing the magic of reading to them.
One of my favourite bedtime stories I make up at night for my moko is about a couple of horses over the back paddock by our whare who take on the gift of flight after a feed of magic carrots.
Their mission is to fly down the nearby Wairoa River to the hospice, pick up all the sick people and carry them to a paradise where there is no pain, and laughter is the language spoken.
When I get to the part when the horses take off from their launching pad with heaps of hospice koros and nannies on their back, their eyes sparkle with joy as their minds kick into overdrive, just as Einstein said they would.
My favourite field trip is to visit their horsey heroes with them. It is a lesson in unconditional love between two hearts, one with four legs and the other with a pair of gumboots, their little feet kicking with joy in excited anticipation of feeding their four-legged friends jet fuel to fly, in the form of a bag of Ohakune's best.
And, I bet their hoiho - called Franky and Hanky (one is a hero horse and the other is a bit of a sook) - can go way faster than any preacher's Falcon, eh kids?
Not that embroidering the truth in the form of weaving a good backyard yarn is the exclusive domain of adults selling their own version of a story to their tamariki.
We have many yarns told over time by grownups to grownups, to suit the needs or interest of those who stand to benefit by a favourable outcome. A perfect example, in my opinion, is the story told by Pare Hauraki about their tito toehold in the whenua of Tauranga Moana.
Trouble is, their storyteller is a lawyer and for me, his yarn is about as convincing as the preacher pushing for a Jesus jet.
Some say there is a fine line between truth and tito (untruths) when it comes to sharing stories with our kids. However, I have never found that line to cross. Maybe because I never really looked for one once I found out Santa was never going to show up.
I guess this could change but, for now, unless I do come across a banana wearing a pair of pyjamas or a family of porridge pinchers and a hungry little girl called Goldilocks, I will stick to what Einstein said and feed our kids local legends from our own backyard.
Keep an eye out and a mind open next time you are driving down along the Wairoa River past the Waipuna Hospice. You may just see a couple of awhi angels on the back of two horses holding on to some very happy hospice patients.
That's all folks!
broblack@xtra.co.nz Tommy Kapai is a local writer and bestselling author.
