Blog

Writing for families who are apart at bedtime

Practical things that help when one of you is on a roster, on the road, on nights, or in another country. Written by the dad who built StoryLink, and free to read whether or not you ever install it.

Every night starts the same way, wherever you are.

Picture Books That Sound Like Home

Picture books set here, not somewhere else: Christmas in the heat, magpies in spring, and where to find the good ones for kids aged two to ten.

Australian Animals for Kids: What Is Actually True, and Books That Name Them

Magpie season, possums in the roof, a blue-tongue under the step. What is actually true about the animals outside, and the books that name them.

Bedtime for Defence families: routines that survive a posting

Postings, exercises and deployments break every routine a child has. Practical bedtime steps for ADF families, including the weeks with no contact.

Truck driver bedtime: a plan for multi-night runs

Multi-night runs, patchy reception, and a bedtime clock that never lines up. Practical ways to run a bedtime story from a parked cab, at any hour.

Night shift and bedtime: a plan that survives the roster

You work nights, so bedtime lands wherever the roster puts it. A plan: the 4pm handover, moving the story to breakfast, and protecting your sleep.

Video calls with a toddler: what actually works

Toddlers cannot do small talk on FaceTime, and that is normal. Here are practical fixes for shorter, easier video calls with a two or three year old.

Choosing books by age: what to read at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10

What actually changes between a 2 year old's book and a 10 year old's, and the ten second middle-page test that picks one for you at 7.40 pm.

How to record yourself reading a book for your child

How to record yourself reading a picture book so your child can play it back: slow down, leave the gaps, and keep the mistakes in. It takes ten minutes.