I agree wholeheartedly with Malcolm Higgins (Letters May 15) about the importance of telling bedtime stories to your children.

I carried out this pleasurable duty with both my children and, after my eldest daughter had brought her own children into the world, I maintained the good work with them.

Luckily I have a very vivid imagination and didn’t read stories: I made them up.

The main character in my stories was a young, pony-mad girl called Henrietta Bumbleberg who had many, many adventures with Pixie, her pony.

There is nothing to beat the sight of a young child lying in bed listening intently to you with wide-open eyes as the latest adventure is revealed.

Eventually those eyes will start to droop as sleep gradually overtakes them. Then you stop reading, wait for a little while to make sure those eyes haven’t popped open again, give a light kiss on their forehead, take a final look at the peacefully-sleeping child and tip-toe out of the room.

My days as a bed-time raconteur are now, alas, at an end, as my two, granddaughters are past the age of bed-time story-telling.

A bed-time story versus the modern trend of having a child use an electronic gadget? No contest, bed-time story every time!

Philip Roe,

Roman Avenue South,

Stamford Bridge