This article introduces the reader to the use of narratives to inform and enhance patient care. In this context narratives are specific stories about patient care that children’s nurses discuss with one another, or with members of the multidisciplinary team, or that are relayed to them by patients and families. It is argued that an understanding of different narratives – children’s, parents’, young people’s, our own and those of other healthcare professionals – will assist the children’s nurse to act more sensitively, effectively and imaginatively.