The co-created bedtime ritual
A 60-second ritual where your child picks the ingredients, becomes the hero, and you read them gently toward sleep — built for the bedtime that's become an hour of "one more?"
Designed by an MD · Written by a novelist · Tested by a dad
Make tonight's story — free 3 free stories. No credit card. Takes 60 seconds.How it works
A sidekick, a place, a magic word — ten seconds of giggling co-authorship. (Tired grown-ups can drive instead: one tap works too.)
In seconds: their name, their age, their ingredients — every one of them, guaranteed — woven into a brand-new tale by a novelist-built story engine.
Every story follows our MD-designed Wind-Down Arc — lively start, gentle middle, drowsy close. The last page is engineered for heavy eyelids.
What's in the pot
Your child tosses in tonight's ingredients — a sidekick, a place, a magic word — and every one appears in the tale. They're not listening to a story; they're co-writing it.
First day of school, thunderstorm worries, doctor visit tomorrow — pick what's on their mind and the story gently works it through. Comfort by narrative, never a lecture.
Every story is paced in three acts by an MD: lively start, gentle middle, drowsy close. Sentences shorten, sounds soften, and the last page lands on heavy eyelids.
If your child isn't asking for "one more story" by night three, email us within 30 days for a full refund — and keep every story you made together.
Sample story
co-created with Ellie, age 5 — she tossed in: her dog Biscuit · the shed behind the garden · a moon-colored kite
Ellie found the kite on a Saturday, which everyone knows is the best day for finding things. It was tucked behind the garden shed, pale as moonlight, with a tail made of little silver ribbons that whispered when the wind walked by.
"Biscuit," Ellie said, very seriously, "this is a flying day." Biscuit wagged his whole body, which was his way of agreeing with everything Ellie ever said.
The kite rose. And rose. And then — this is the part Ellie would tell everyone later — the kite tugged twice, politely, like it was asking a question...
Our story
I'm an MD, a novelist, and — most importantly for this website — a dad who ran out of bedtime books years ago.
It started the way it starts in a lot of houses: "Tell me a story, but a made-up one. With me in it." So I made them up. Night after night, story after story, my kids as the heroes — riding dinosaurs, sailing paper boats, out-clevering grumpy dragons. I learned quickly what every parent-storyteller learns: the story isn't really about the dragon. It's about the wind-down. The best bedtime story starts with adventure and ends with a yawn you planted there on purpose.
As a doctor, I knew why that worked — pacing, rhythm, and calm are physiology, not magic. As a novelist, I knew how to build it — structure, voice, and an ending that lands soft as a quilt. Bedside Stories is both of those things in one button: stories with real craft and genuinely good bedside manner, personalized for the small person you're tucking in tonight.
We use it in my house. Now it's yours too.
— Dr. John McKillop, founder
Pricing
Every plan includes the full method: Story Soup, Story Prescriptions, the Wind-Down Arc, and Narrator Cues.
☾ The Third Night Guarantee
If your child isn't asking for "one more story" by night three, email us within 30 days for a full refund. Keep the stories.
Questions parents ask
We collect the minimum a story needs: a first name, an age, and a few interests. You're the account holder, not your child. We never sell data, we don't use tracking cookies, and you can delete a profile anytime.
Fair question. Every story runs on a story engine built by a working novelist — real structure, real voice, calibrated to your child's age — with content rules that keep every tale gentle and kind. If a story ever misses, tap the button again; a new one is seconds away.
A pacing structure designed by our MD founder. Stories open lively, resolve gently, and close with short, soft sentences and a slow-breath moment — the rhythm of a child settling down. It's the difference between a story before bed and a story that ends in sleep.
Roughly 2 to 10. Vocabulary, humor, and story length adjust automatically to the age on the profile.
One click in your account, no emails to send, no guilt trip. Your saved stories stay readable.