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Comment by axod | Hacker News Reader

Awesome design, but I don't like the concept :/ You can't substitute real quality time spent with kids, and that's what this seems to do. Maybe I'm missing the concept, but I don't see why parents or children would rather watch a video than have proper 1on1 storytime.

I guess I don't see what problem it solves, and IMHO it could promote lazy parenting. But I'm not convinced a kid would really be willing to use it to listen to a story. I don't think it'd be effective putting kids to bed.

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Unfortunately, there are a lot of families that are divided (divorced/separated/traveling/etc) and this would give the children a way to be connected with the distant parent.

As a side note, I think it would be nice to have a karaoke style presentation of the words available so that it's also educational at the same time. Kind of like running your finger along below the words as you read them.

@axod: You're right. This isn't a replacement for 1:1 storytime. But sometimes that's not possible. Like when a parent is on a business trip, or stationed abroad in the military, or with remote grandparents, or in a split family situation.

FWIW, I was in a split family situation with my son since he was 18months. He's 10 now. I really don't think this would have been a good idea. I did think about getting a webcam setup at the time, but you need some boundaries, and things worked out great in the end. Phone is good, and obviously making every effort when you are together, etc. Having too much webcam/phone/etc can just make everyone miss everyone even more, and make things worse rather than better.

I'm sorry to be 'down' on the service, but it just makes me kinda sad :/

I guess for parents who work far away, or abroad, it could be useful. Or it could just make the kids miss them more...

Would a kid rather watch a video of an absent parent telling a story, or have the parent who is present read them a story in person? I'd expect usually the 2nd option.

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