Creating Our Own Bedtime Stories

Every night, as many families do, my wife and I read to our baby daughter before bed. She's only two months old, but we already have a presidential-sized library of Elmo, Pooh and Dora literary collections.

According to the experts at BabyCenter.com: "Reading to your baby introduces her to the concepts of stories, numbers, letters, colors, and shapes, and gives her information about the world around her. It also builds memory and vocabulary skills. By the time she's one year old, your baby has already learned all the sounds she needs to speak her native language. The more words she hears, the better she'll be able to talk."

Of course, I want my baby girl to speak eloquently and enjoy reading, what parent wouldn't? But no matter how big your collection, you will get tired of reading the same books over and over and over again. Plus, a majority of the books either end abruptly or are just flat out weird all the way through.

So that's why I've decided to create our own bedtime stories. It makes things more interesting and more interactive. I can control what happens in the book, meaning a strange, creepy narrator doesn't have to give uncomfortable massages to Elmo and no embarrassment from mispronouncing Dora's incredibly diverse Spanish vocabulary. Plus, we'll have a keepsake of our little adventures at night...something to remind us of how precious these moments are.

I started by writing a simple poem and then added some pictures of us as a family to make a tiny flip book. If you want to do something similar, I suggest using Adobe Illustrator or InDesign. They are really easy to use and have a wide array of features to customize whatever look you are going for.

If you aren't a writer or interested in graphic design, please feel free to just take my poem below and substitute in your family's names, add or delete some stuff, whatever. Hopefully you get as much enjoyment out of reading a more personal bedtime story as I do. More creations will be coming soon...

It’s time for bed in the home of the Joneses,

so lay down your head and rest your boneses.

Anlee had a long day of learning, laughing and playing, she talked and talked, but nobody knew what she was saying. 

Mommy was at school, teaching her students well,
The kids all behaved so she didn’t have to yell.

Daddy typed away on his computer at his desk,
and he solved a lot of problems, a great success!

Everyone then came home for dinner and it was good,
we may have ate way, way more than we should.

We got to laugh and share our big news of the day,
Mommy squirted milk out her nose…but that’s ok.

To the living room we go to spend some quality time,
Anlee likes to crawl around, dance and climb.

Next it’s time for a bath and Anlee likes to splash,
but we get out, get dry and get PJ’s on in a flash.

Finally it’s story time, that’s what we’re doing right now,
reading books that make us grin and smile like a happy cow.

We’ve finished our story, time to turn out the light.
Go to sleep all, go to sleep everyone, good night.