Puppet theatre

im passionate about the importance of myths and legends and tales in symbolising values and life lessons.in buddhism the jataka tales are well known.in india,the bhagavad gita is a well known story of good vs evil.in christianity the parables teach us moral values. i believe as a parent,ive done my best to inculcate a love of nature,the environment,physical fitness,music and drawing in my son.some things ive instilled in him have become apparent in his creative imagination,flair for languages,love of music but some have failed like importance of exercise and housework. ive spent time reading to him,taking him to public library,forest reserve to catch shrimps ,to watch puppet shows of japanese puppets,british marionette or musical theatre and spoken poetry performances. it has developed his imagination as a creative content developer.he has also composed lyrics for music in indonesian and thai bands.ive indulged his passion for toy cars,fans and building blocks of lasy and future kids mindstorms so its a pity when parents take the easy way out by giving kids the electronic babysitter the handphone n let them be addicted to games. this weekend im gonna watch the iron gang teochew puppet show of si tanggang.its a tale of filial piety and sin of ungratefulness of child to his birth mother.its a story close to my heart as i taught my students to modernise ancient tales.they rewrote and put up great plays.si tanggang was remade into a tragic comedy which was funny.they renamed it si chappati and ive loaded it on my youtube channel as the tale has a modern context and a twist at the end when the ungrateful son is cursed by his mom to turn his voice into a vaincock who crows.some reinterpreted the journey to the west,a chinese legend and some hang tuah and hang jebat. in chinese opera,the tale of how a filial son mulien saves his mother from hell and feed her during hungry ghost festival yulanpen.originally a tale from buddhist sutra,the indic origin was sinicized to the life story of mulien.asian values of filial piety is taught from mulien saves his mom to sitanggang ,the consequences of an ungrateful son.instead of just exposing kids to western fairy tales,its time parents expose their kids to asian fairy tales.it would be great if public library and cultural centres expose puppet theatres to a wider audience like foreign tourists.it would keep alive the art of wayang kulit,shadow puppet,or teochew puppet theatre .it would revive ancient stories and allow children to master the art form before it dies out.