Bedtime Stories: What Ants Do On Rainy Days Gives Children And Parents Loads To Ponder On  

Oftentimes, storytelling is a great way for parents to impart life lessons and important values to the little ones. But once in a while, there comes a children’s book that gives the adult just as much to chew on.

One of those books is What Ants Do on Rainy Days, written by Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Social and Family Development, and a mother of two. 

The story tells of Andi the ant and his friends and family, who must scramble up a hill to escape the rising waters. But as food becomes scarce and the ants fight over what little they have, Andi decides to venture off to find a solution for everyone.

Exactly what lessons can Andi teach us? And how did an ant become the protagonist of the story? 

To answer these questions, Minister Sun got together with Kiss92’s Charmaine Phua on the podcast Book Monsters – Bedtime Stories, a series presented by Kiss92 and the EtonHouse Community Fund and supported by the Singapore Women’s Weekly.

Hear Minister Sun’s reading and discussion of What Ants Do on Rainy Days here:

It was a dark stormy night (01:29 to 01:47 and 3:54 to 04:31)

Minister Sun created the story on a rainy evening while reading stories to her children, and they were the ones who suggested for ants to be the main characters of her book. “I thought it was actually quite representative of how children think. What interests them are actually what they see every day—little animals, creatures or things they come across—and in this case, it’s an ant,” she says.

Andi’s struggles are a metaphor for real life (05:37 to 06:38)

The hill in the story can be likened to the academic journey in Singapore; children are encouraged or even pressured to climb this hill as high as they can go. But suffice to say, not all children are necessarily academically inclined or bloom according to socially accepted timelines. Some do best by forging their own unique path.

In the case of Andi the ant, by stepping off the hill, he learned from ants in another colony how to make boats out of leaves that helped him escape the rising waters and find food for his family and friends. 

“Really, the main theme is that there are multiple pathways to success and excellence, and we should broaden our horizons and be brave and seek out those new solutions,” says Minister Sun.

Letting children take the lead (09:03 to 10:01)

Rather than prescribing a solution each time your child meets a challenge, the book also serves as a reminder to take a step back and simply observe.

Rather than climbing the hill, Andi explored and wound up using his hands to create an innovative solution. This is reminiscent of how when left to their own devices, little children are capable of grand creations using the most mundane items, from leaves and stones to little bits of paper.

“As parents, we must learn to let go. Obviously we let them know where the guardrails are so they don’t fall off the sides, but [we should] encourage them to seek new solutions [to problems],” she says. 

You can listen to episodes of the podcast series Book Monsters – Bedtime Stories every Thursday on Google Podcasts, Spotify or Awedio.