For military families
Six months away.
Every night, home
A deployment is long, and a video call is rare and never at bedtime. Record the books before you go — and from wherever you are, when you can — so the kids hear you every single night, in your voice, at the time that matters.
The thing a phone call can't do
A call is when the base allows. A story is when they're tired.
Anyone who's been through a deployment knows the maths: the window for a call is small, the time difference is wrong, the connection is what it is. The kids get you for eleven minutes on a Sunday, and they're wired, or shy, or somewhere else in their heads.
A recording is different. It's you, at their bedtime, every night. It's the same book five nights running because that's what a four-year-old needs. And it's there in month five when month one's excitement is long gone.
Before you go
A pre-deployment recording plan
Families who've done this tell us the same thing — record more than you think you'll need, and record for each child by name.
-
Pick a dozen books
The ones they ask for now, and a couple for the age they'll be when you're back. Add them to the shelf. -
Record for each child separately
Every recording asks who it's for. A reading for Ava has her name in it and lives on her shelf. A reading for Ben is his. Same book, two bedtimes. -
Leave notes between the pages
A recording is your voice, not the printed words. "This is the one we read the night before I left." Say the things. -
Get the other parent recording too
Everyone in the family records, free. Grandparents, too. A shelf with four voices on it holds up better for six months than one. -
Keep going from wherever you are
When there's a signal, record a page or two. A book you started at home can be finished from a bunk. Publish when it's ready.
Why it holds up
Bedtime without a screen
Just listen plays the story with the tablet face-down. The room stays dark; the voice stays on.
Learn moreYou're told when they listen
"Ava listened to you read Room on the Broom." On a bad day, that's the message that gets through.
Playlists for the routine
"Ava's bedtime" is three books in order, in your voice, every night, whoever's putting her down.
Learn moreWorks at Grandma's
If the kids stay somewhere else while you're gone, a Stay sends your voice with them.
Learn moreOn the big TV
Saturday morning with your voice reading the pages on the living-room screen.
Learn moreKept forever
These are the recordings people play for years. They never expire, plan or no plan.
Learn moreHe recorded fourteen books before he shipped out. Our son is two. By the time Dad came back, "Daddy's voice" was a thing our son said. I don't think he'd have known him otherwise.
For the family at home
Give it to a family with someone away
Go deeper
How-to
Record a book for a specific child
Every recording starts with one question. Most people miss it. Here's what it changes.
How-to
Build a bedtime playlist
Three books in order is a routine. Save it and it's waiting next week.
How-to
Give Voicebooks as a gift
A code, sent by email, on the day you choose. Nobody needs an account to give one.
For
Parents who travel for work
Bedtime from the hotel
Start recording before you go
Free to start, three books on the shelf. A year of Family for a deployment is a gift someone would love to give you.
