Increasing number of households now have both parents working. Due to fatigue, parents may find storytelling too taxing. Be Calm on Ahway Island releases new stories in the form of podcasts every week. The stories focus on sending positive messages, acceptance, and developing emotional regulation. The podcast is available on various platforms.
With the positive growth of gender equality and education of women, the number of working females has increased. According to the Pew Research Center, both parents in the U.S are working in 46% of households (Pew Research Centre, 2014). While this growth is commendable and needs to be encouraged, having both parents working can lead to difficulties in time management.
A brief overview of modern problems in children’s sleep and learning
Statistics show that amount of time spent with children has increased, with educated parents spending more time with children (Ortiz-Ozpina, 2020). However, after long days at work, parents may be too exhausted to spend time reciting or reading stories to their kids and instead opt for watching television. Storytelling to children, though, leads to vocabulary expansion, cognitive and language development, listening skills development, enhancement of attention span, etc. Passive television watching, on the other hand, doesn’t share these benefits and can lead to detrimental impacts like addiction to screens and damage to the eyes.
The solution presented by Ahway Island and how it works
Started in 2017, Be Calm on Ahway Island has been creating podcasts for kids. The podcasts include child-friendly meditations, calming stories that foster emotional regulation, inclusivity, gratitude, and other positive lessons. Ahway Island adds new content to its story library every week and has released nearly 600 stories to date. Because they are podcasts, problems related to screen time are averted.
Each story begins with a gentle meditation specifically designed for kids. The dozen different meditations are rotated between stories to prevent habituation and boredom. The stories that follow are engaging yet not too stimulating, thereby allowing children to be invested yet not so excited that sleep is prevented. To improve their service, Ahway attends to and includes customer feedback.
Ahway Island’s stories focus on two goals: putting children to sleep and ensuring that their stories provide meaningful messages. All Ahway Island stories highlight and foster inclusivity, acceptance, empathy, appreciation, and hospitality. Each story ends with the protagonist experiencing gratitude for the people who are important to them.
Children often face difficulties in calming themselves as well as adjusting to alterations in routines at home or school. To help kids become better at this, the podcasts focus on modeling and teaching emotional regulation. The characters demonstrate positive problem solving, cooperation, and relationship building. To boost emotional regulation, the podcasts also include mindfulness segments. Mindfulness is a technique to focus attention and awareness. The Ahway Meditation includes ‘Deep Dragon Breaths’ in every episode, which gradually teaches children to take such breaths. Over time, children inculcate these and can perform them individually whenever stressed.
Further, the calm brought about by an Ahway Island podcast can help students get ready for a test, settle down after a recess/break, get ready for the day, and, most importantly, put the youngest listeners (and some older ones too) to sleep.
What is the data to support that the Ahway Island Podcasts are actually helpful?
Ahway Island has had 5,500,000 downloads to date. Analysis has shown that the number of listeners increases during seasonal changes, such as the beginning of a new year or new school semesters. Such times can be stressful for parents and kids, who may be overwhelmed by the changes. An increase in listeners during these times evidences that parents and children find the Ahway stories soothing.
The pandemic was a time of reported upheavals and disruption of routines for everyone. During this period, Be Calm on Ahway Island was listed on local government and parenting websites as a helpful resource for children. Many adults, including college students, parents, and pets, have also been reported as falling asleep thanks to the Ahway stories.
Where to access Be Calm on Ahway Island Podcast?
Ahway Island podcasts are available on YouTube, iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Spotify, Google Podcasts, PodChaser, RSS, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Patreon, Player.FM, Podbean, Podcast-Index, Radio-Public, Stitcher, Amazon Music, and Castbox.