Two kids. Too many questions.

As a documentary filmmaker, I consider myself reasonably good at tackling tough questions. Then I had two kids, and said kids learnt to pursue their curiosity by asking questions. Thoroughly encouraged, of course, but also completely exhausting.

After one-too-many attempts to explain why we dream, or why it's wrong to hit others, or — yes, really — why some toot more than others, I decided I needed reinforcements at the end of a long work day. And that facts, even if lovingly shared by Daddy, wouldn't fuel smiles or curiosity the way stories would.

So I created Taki and Hopper, and "a system" that allowed me to frame every answer as if it were a fable out of their unhurried world of Gentleland.

The stories landed. And boy did they land. "I have a question for the bunnies" has become a bedtime ritual in our household. The number of questions has increased. But I'm unfazed because I have storytelling super powers now. And, during Strawbunnies Time at least, I'm more popular with my kids than their Mummy.

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How the stories are created

Once a question comes in, our resident Wise Fairy Godmother waves her magic wand, showers gold dust upon each word and transforms your child's enquiry into a wonder-filled story.

I'm kidding. I use AI tools to make these.

Use, not rely on. The distinction is important to me. Like most parents, I'm wary of how much AI enters my kids' lives.

I developed — and my kids approved — the look and personality of each character. I wrote the narrative guidelines, the dos-and-donts boundaries, and the scripts that the prompt references before generating a story.

Each story is set in a world I created. Every generated script and narrated audio story is reviewed by me before it's sent to a parent. That is why stories can take up to a day to land in your inbox. I can get them to you in under a minute, but it's more important that they're worth listening to.

Like all good tools, AI speeds up the output. What is produced, however, should still be up to us.

Cheers,
AV