From Your Local Guardian:
Hardworking fathers can still read their children a bedtime story in their absence, thanks to a new invention by a Kingston father-of-two.
Chris Coombs, 44, has come up with a personalised audio book that fathers can record through the internet and email to their offspring at home.
He came up with the idea in 2001, after being called away from Kingston to visit his father, who had fallen ill in Canada.
His daughter Mia, now seven, had been born the day after the September 11 attacks in America and Mr Coombs was about to board a plane.
He said: “I wanted to reassure my four-year-old daughter that I had to leave the country for a few weeks but everything was fine.
“As an audio mixer and dubbing editor I recorded myself reading a story and then added sound effects and prompts.”
He discussed the idea with four other friends who often missed out on bedtimes stories and fivedads.com was born.
Putting aside the absurd idea of e-mailing bedtime stories to kids, it’s nice to see utterly gratuitous references to 9/11 making a small comeback.
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Dear Nathan. I read the blog and just thought I would comment. When questioned as to how FiveDads came about, I simply told the truth. My baby girls was born on the 10th of September and brought home on the 11th. My wife is a United Airlines flight attendant and watched the events with an obvious sense of immediacy. That afternoon, I received a call that my father was gravely ill in Canada. My four year old at the time was seeing her parents being emotionally pulled from pillar to post. I created some personally recorded stories for her at work so that amongst the turmoil, and my extended absence, she would know that all was fine and that I would be home soon. Had 9/11 not happened, I would perhaps not have felt the need to do the stories so, that is where the idea was born, and that is what the correspondant asked. Our website is there for anyone who has run out of options, lives thousands of miles away and cannot visit, is in the military etc.
FiveDads is NOT a substitute for being there in person. It is simply a fun option to use in concert with the normal bedtime routine.
Thanks very much for allowing me to respond.
… and I would hope, of course, that mothers who are away from their kids at bedtime are also allowed to use the service… or does it just work at the lower decibels of the male voice?
The site is called Fivedads because it was created by five people who happen to be dads. Not because it is FOR dads. Fivedads.com provides an opportunity for anyone in the family to become more involved in childrens bedtime reading. Whether you are a Mum, Dad, Grandparent, Aunt, Uncle, Godparent you can use FiveDads to create a unique listening experience. This website is NOT a substitute for being there at bedtime. Nothing is. If however, you find that you cannot be there, know you wont be, or wish to create a loving and magical gift for a special child, Fivedads is a fantastic option! Perhaps Mum and Dad need to be out at bedtime, with fivedads they can still hear a story from their parents thus maintaining that connection and bond that exists with no one else! The stories can come in handy on long car journeys as well. A stack of books and some stories to play on the car CD player beat video games any day! Have a visit and try it as many times as you like for free, then decide if it is for you.
Thanks again. Chris
erica says: “or does it just work at the lower decibels of the male voice?”
FYI, decibels are a measure of loudness.