Bedtime stories when you’re away: 5 practical ways

You can stay part of bedtime from far away in five ways: a live video call, a voice message, a video of you reading, a story you record before you go, or a picture book that records your voice. The right one depends on your time difference and your week, not on which sounds nicest.

Below: the five ways with their honest weak points, a table to match them to your week, how to record before you leave, and a checklist for the night before.

Five ways to do bedtime from far away

1. A live video call. The closest thing to being there. It needs a time zone that lets you be on at their bedtime, a steady signal, and a child who is happy to sit with a screen at that hour.
2. A voice message. Easy to record anywhere, and it works across any time difference. It is one-way, and a grown-up has to press play.
3. A video of you reading their favourite book. They see your face and the pages. It takes a quiet room and a few tries, and a grown-up has to start it.
4. A story you record before you go, with your child in it. It works on any night, at any hour, whatever your week does. You have to plan it ahead, and it lives on the device you recorded it on.
5. A picture book with a built-in recorder. You read the book into it page by page and your child presses a button. There is no screen, but it is one book and nothing else.

Which one fits depends on the week you have.

Mix them if you like: a call on the nights you can, a recorded story for the rest.

When a live video call works (and when it doesn’t)

A call works when you can be on at the same time every night, someone props the phone up so nobody has to hold it, and you keep it short: one book, one goodnight. The same time and the same first words make it easy to repeat.

It works less well when the time difference puts your call at breakfast, when the signal drops mid-sentence, or when your child is too tired for a screen and just wants to be held. None of that is a failure. Keep a recording ready for those nights.

Record the story before you leave

A recording doesn’t care about time zones, shifts or signal. You make it once, at home, and it is ready every night you’re gone.

A voice memo or a video does the job, as in how to record a bedtime story for your child. A story app that records in pieces adds two things: you can redo one bad piece without redoing the story, and your child can have lines of their own.

Nanuli works this way. You pick a story, record it scene by scene with your child, and it waits on the shelf. Your child can open it and press play without you, and once it’s recorded it plays without internet. Short on time, or your child isn’t in the mood? Choose “I’ll read every part myself” and the story plays back in your voice.

One practical point. The recording stays on the device you made it on, and Nanuli runs on iPhone and iPad. So record on the family iPad or the other parent’s iPhone, not on the phone that’s travelling with you. Or save the finished story as a video with the pictures, or as audio only, and send it to the device that stays home.

Give your child a part to play, not just a recording to hear

A recording of you is nice to hear. If your child is in it, saying their lines in their own voice, bedtime has something of theirs in it too, and they can play it as often as they like.

Choose a story where the hero has short lines, such as The Billy Goats and the Troll. Whisper each of their lines before you record it and let them say it back in their own way. While you’re away, they press play and hear themselves as the smallest goat, with your voice around them. For ways to start small, see how to make bedtime stories interactive.

A checklist for the night before you go

• Pick the device that stays home, the family iPad or the other parent’s phone, and charge it.
• Choose the story your child asks for most.
• Record it together in a quiet room, one scene at a time.
• Whisper your child’s lines and let them say them back. If they’d rather not, skip a line and read it yourself.
• Play it back once together, so your child knows what happens when they press play.
• Show your child where the story waits on the shelf, and let them press play themselves.
• Save a copy as a video or an audio file and send it to the grown-up at home, in case the device is out of reach.
• If you’re calling, agree the time and tell your child the plan.

On a night when nothing goes to plan, a thirty-second voice message still counts.