Story ideas: what to tell the writer
For the General Preferences box on your preferences page
Every LullabyMail story is written fresh for your child. The box called General Preferences is where you steer it. Leave it blank and you still get a good story every night. Write a sentence or two, and the stories start to feel like they were written for your kid. Copy any example below, then swap in your own details.
How the note works. Your note is read every single night. Style requests (“short”, “silly”, “a line to say together”) apply every night. Topics (“she just started daycare”) show up as the heart of the story on some nights and as a small detail on others, so the stories don’t all turn into the same story. When a life event has passed, edit the note.
- Quick tips
- How it sounds
- Make it about them
- Babies & toddlers
- Milestones
- Big feelings & changes
- Values
- Winding down
- Big kids (8–12)
- Putting it together
Quick tips
Name real things
“Her stuffed bunny is called Mr. Flops” beats “she likes toys”. Real names, real places and real pets are what make a story feel like theirs.
Say how it should sound
Short? Silly? Rhyming? A line to repeat? The writer follows style requests every night, and they change the stories more than anything else you can write.
Avoid things with Guardrails, not here
Things to keep out (storms, wolves, being lost) go in Story Guardrails on the same page. Guardrails are strict, and they always win.
Keep it to a few sentences
Two to five sentences work best. Plain words are fine, and you don’t need special phrasing. Write it the way you’d tell a babysitter.
How it sounds
The quickest way to change every story at once.
Keep it short with simple, bouncy sentences, like a board book. A line that repeats is great.
Please include one short line that repeats a few times so he can say it with us. He loves shouting the last word.
Funny over sweet, every time. She loves silly mix-ups, animals doing people jobs, and anything that ends with a big yawn.
Rhyming stories please. Simple rhymes are fine, don’t force it.
He gets wound up at bedtime. Keep the stories calm and slow, with a quiet ending where everyone settles down to sleep.
Make it about them
Her stuffed giraffe, Noodle, should be in the stories as her loyal sidekick. Noodle is brave but a bit clumsy.
Our dog Biscuit (a fluffy golden retriever) and big sister Jada can show up sometimes. Grandma lives with us and makes pancakes on Saturdays.
We live by the ocean and walk to the pier on weekends. He knows all the boats. Stories set near the sea feel like home to him.
We’re a Spanish-speaking family. Sprinkle in a few simple Spanish words like abuela, luna and buenas noches.
She likes being the one who solves the problem. Let her be the clever one who figures it out.
Babies & toddlers (ages 1–3)
He’s just learning words: dog, ball, duck, more, bath. Use lots of those, and animal sounds he can copy.
A story that follows our bedtime routine would be perfect: bath, pajamas, two books, a cup of water, lights out.
She loves counting to five. Counting down to sleep is a winner.
Milestones
We’re potty training. Light, encouraging stories where a character tries the potty and feels proud. No accidents or embarrassment.
He just moved to a big-kid bed and keeps getting up. Stories where a character discovers their own bed is the best place to be.
We’re saying goodbye to her binky this month. A gentle story about a character who gives something up and feels grown-up about it.
She has her first wiggly tooth and is a little worried. Make losing a tooth feel exciting.
He’s learning to ride a bike and gets frustrated. Stories about characters who keep practising and get a little better each time.
Big feelings & changes
Rosie just started daycare and is nervous at drop-off. Stories where a character goes somewhere new, misses home a little, then has a good day and gets picked up.
A new baby brother arrives in March. She’s excited but unsure. Show a big sister character who has a special job and still gets her own time with mom.
We’re moving to a new apartment next month. Stories about characters who move and find their new place starts to feel like home.
He spends weeknights at mom’s and weekends at dad’s. Stories where both places are warm and loving would mean a lot.
Her dad travels for work a lot. Stories where someone is far away but still thinking of you, and comes home soon.
He’s shy around new kids. Characters who are quiet at first and make one friend in their own way.
Values
We’re working on sharing and taking turns. Show it in the story, but don’t spell out a lesson at the end.
Stories where a character tells the truth even when it’s hard, and it turns out okay.
Characters who notice when someone is left out and invite them to play.
Waiting is hard for her right now. Stories where waiting for something turns out to be worth it.
End each story with the main character thinking of one thing they’re thankful for. We do this at bedtime too.
Winding down
We do slow “balloon breaths” at bedtime. A character could take three slow breaths near the end.
He gets out of bed a lot. End stories with the character snuggled in their own bed, happy to stay there.
She worries about nighttime. Make night feel friendly and safe: crickets, a night-light, a family sleeping nearby.
Big kids (8–12)
He loves mysteries. Small puzzles he can try to solve before the characters do, with clues along the way.
She’s obsessed with space. Real facts about planets and stars woven into the story, explained simply.
He has a dry sense of humour and rolls his eyes at anything babyish. Clever jokes, a sarcastic sidekick, nothing too sweet.
She builds things out of cardboard all day. Characters who invent things, mess up, and try again.
Putting it together
The best notes mix one or two things about your child with one thing about how the story should sound. For example:
Maya loves her cat Pepper and anything with trucks. She’s nervous about starting preschool. Short and silly, with a line she can say along with us.
Leo loves dinosaurs and Ava loves space. They argue about whose turn it is, so stories where they team up are great. Funny is better than sweet.
Sam plays soccer and is a huge fan of maps. He likes stories with a clever twist at the end. He finds baby stuff boring, so treat him like a big kid.
Ready to try one? Open your preferences page from the link in any story email, paste a note into General Preferences, and press Save. Your next story will use it. Want to change tonight’s story instead? Reply to tonight’s email and tell us what to change.