I believe the bards used to use stories to empower people to make better choices.
I believe their stories were about strength and bravery and whatever else might help children and adults alike make better choices and get through hard times. I think they memorized stories for every situation that could come up. They would have been like Aesops Fables.
I think it took a certain kind of person to become a bard. An empathic and caring person that could be looked up to by everyone as a role-model, especially children. They would have been the ones to guide children into adulthood with the many different tales they had memorized. The tales would have counted as lessons with a moral or characteristic for each one. The stories would demonstrate through oral tradition what good character looked like.
Back in cultures when books didnt exist or were very rare, a bard would have been a very important person to keep the histories alive and the morale in their society high.
I think modern day bards would make the best babysitters.
They were entertainers, but the entertainment they gave was VERY important, empowering, and deep.
I think the best bards must have been funny as well as serious, too.