Meet Joe & Livvy
Please tell us a bit about you and your family:
My wife and I got married in 2009. We have both longed for a family and were met with struggles along the way. Through doctor appointments and specialists, we felt like there was no hope to have a child. After years of trying, we were ready to give up. I still remember the day my wife told me she was pregnant. It was the happiest day of my life! My daughter was born in 2014, and I couldn’t be more proud of this wonderful 7-year-old! She is happy, bubbly, smart, and curious about the world around her! She loves reading, and is reading more books than both her mother and I combined! She is developing an appreciation for music, and I had the amazing privilege of taking her to her first concert last fall. My wife and I couldn’t be more proud of the young lady she is becoming.
What was it that first made you search for an app to help with your situation?
My daughter has a huge imagination, which is both a blessing and a curse, especially at bedtime when she lets that imagination turn into fear and worry. When she was 3 or 4, she was coming into our room every night because she was scared. My wife and I are both into technology, so we looked for apps that could help her get to sleep.
We started using Moshi Stories at bedtime, and it was a night and day difference!
In early 2020, the news of the pandemic caused her anxiety to increase. She was expressing her worries in her day-to-day conversations with us, and it started to turn my lively gregarious child into someone who was frequently scared and concerned.
It was around that same time that my grandmother passed away. My daughter had a very close relationship with her and losing her impacted my daughter severely. Her fear and concern started turning into tantrums and outbursts.
We started using Moshi Meditations to help soothe her and take her out of the extreme emotions she was feeling. It taught her to be mindful of her emotions and gave her coping skills to deal with those big feelings.
Did you try any other ways to help with your situation?
In those early days, we tried everything!! We modified her bedtime routine to include more stories, we tried laying in bed with her until she went to sleep, we gave her fun questions to think about as she went to sleep, we even bribed her with a prize box if she could stay in her room for a certain amount of nights.
How did you feel the moment Moshi worked for you?
We are extremely grateful for the peace that Moshi has given to our family. The tantrums are mostly gone (as gone as they can be for a small child), and her bedtime is a breeze! She loves being able to set up her own playlist, and she is usually fast asleep halfway through the first Moshi Story! Not only has this brought peace to our daughter, but it has been beneficial for me and my wife as well. The team at Moshi sincerely cares about child development and hosts webinars regularly to discuss important topics that are relevant to raising children. These have been wonderful, and I am so thankful for the peace and joy that this app has brought our family.
What feature do you find the most helpful on the Moshi app?
We absolutely love the ability to create customized playlists! My daughter has built a few different lists that she likes to choose between depending on mood or season.
If you were asked to recommend Moshi, what would you say?
Moshi has been a lifesaver for our family! It has given my child additional tools to not only get to sleep at night but also confront some big emotions that she is feeling. The interface is easy to use, and there is a wide variety of topics to help your child face their feelings.
What would be the one word you’d use to describe Moshi?
Engaging!
Do you have any tips for other families using the app?
I have two!
1. Let your child create playlists with you! In the beginning stages of the personalized playlists, I was creating them based on stories that were familiar to her. One night, my daughter asked me if she could add some stories to her playlist, so we sat down together and looked through each of the stories. She had such a fun time personalizing a list to her and discovering some great new content, and it gave her a sense of ownership over her bedtime routine!
2. Get a Bluetooth speaker for your child’s room. We were initially playing Moshi through our daughter’s device in her room. We found that the temptation of having a tablet in the room with her was creating a problem where she was playing with it instead of sleeping! We found an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker online and play her stories through that while keeping her tablet in another room.
