GAYLE KING:
00:00:00
They are out with a new children's book to help you and your family get more sleep at night. It's called Ms. Rachel and Bean andthe Bedtime Routine, encouraging a calm and comforting good night. We're happy to say that Ms. Rachel and Mr. Aron are here in the studio, live and in color. Thank you guys for coming. Good morning. The song came on, and-- Hi, friends. --Vlad immediately started singing. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Because he's got your core audience in his house right now. Yes, he does. But I love, guys, that you wrote this particular book, Rachel, because you said you wish you would have had something like this when your favorite son was younger. Because how old is he now? He's seven. He's seven. Yeah. And by something like this, you mean what? As most good ideas, people are looking and saying, why didn't somebody think about that? But you did. Oh. Well, Aron and I try and tackle where parents struggle, where we've struggled, and where we wish we had more resources. So we've struggled with bedtime. And we like to write things for the kids, but also model for the parents within the book. So we go through the whole routine with Bean. And we found a visual checklist really helpful with our son. So we try and share ideas that we found helpful.
GAYLE KING:
00:01:11
And the ideas work. Aron, I love the way the two of you work together. You have a very extensive musical background. Yes. But how do you all come up with the ideas? I heard you just say we try to figure out, meet parents where they are. Do you two sit around the table and say, you know, honey, what would be good to talk about is? You know, I wish we had the time to be like, OK, now let's sit and contemplate the book. But really, we're busy parents. So we're out and about, and we're out with our kids, and we're writing the book in our notes app and saying, what do you think of this couplet? Or how about giving Bean a choice for pajamas? Oh, that sounds good. Our son will pitch in. Yeah. We just catch little moments whenever we can. That's what caught me reading the book, about giving kids choices. I think that's so important. MS. RACHEL: Really is. Just instinctively, I think that that's such a great idea for kids. And you seem to do that deliberately. Yeah. Well, we tell toddlers what to do all day because we need to keep them healthy and safe. And to give them a choice, it really helps them. And it empowers them. It gives them some autonomy. And to say, Do you want your train pajamas or your car pajamas? they like being involved. And it can help with any difficulty. I'm going to give this a shot. I do bedtimes because I'm here in the morning. So my wife does solo mornings.
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS:
00:02:23
Same. Ditto. This bedtime routine checklist, I mean, it's a gauntlet for parents.
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS:
00:02:27
Yes, yes, yes. They don't want to put the pajamas on. They don't want to floss. They don't want to brush teeth. What's on the checklist? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my god. Book and song. Sit down. Where are you going? Come back over here. So what kind of feedback have you had as you were writing this and trying it out on kids? Has it been working? Well, sometimes, it works with our kids. And sometimes, it doesn't. [LAUGHTER]
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS:
00:02:45
Exactly. Let's be honest. We have an eight-month-old, so we're pretty tired. But like any parents, we have times where it gets off sometimes. Maybe you go on a vacation, or you have a transition to school, and it kind of gets off. But routines help kids feel safe, secure. And so getting back to that sameness, it can really help them feel good. I love the note about my grown-ups are close by and I'm safe in my bed. I think that mantra will be very helpful for kids. Yeah. It's good for helping them feel safe and for the bonding too. It's such a great habit to get into. Do your kids know that you are Mr. Aron and you are Ms. Rachel? Because I wonder what that dynamic's like at home with your own children. Do you ever put on a Ms. Rachel video? Or do they know that you're mom and dad, but you're also Mr. Aron?
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:03:34
Yeah, what do they think you do for a living?
GAYLE KING:
00:03:35
Yeah. So our little girl, I have to admit, when we were on a plane, we tried the Mr. Aron and Ms. Rachel live show for her. We were singing in the aisles and tap dancing. She wouldn't have it. So we had to pull out the video on the plane for our own child. I was like, (SINGING) icky sticky bubble gum. She was like, no, I want the screen Ms. Rachel singing "Icky Sticky Bubble Gum." So it was like-- Wow. And our son just-- we say that our most important and favorite job is mommy and daddy--
GAYLE KING:
00:04:08
There you go. --and just focus on that. We do talk to our son about helping others and service and that we want to help kids around the world and just instill those values in him of being a helper. Yes. So Bean is our favorite character in the house. I mean, you guys are awesome. But I have pictures of when Bean was here the last time. And he taught Céline-- he potty trained Céline, essentially. I think we have some photos of her meeting Bean. And I would say that we probably introduced her to Bean when she was only two years old. And within three months, 2.3 months, she was potty trained fully. And she wanted to wear that-- see that underwear that Bean is wearing? She wanted to wear underwear like that, and that's how we potty trained her. So it was amazing. Yeah, it really worked. So for those 17 million subscribers, it works, folks. It works. Now, when the song was coming on, you said Céline's favorite song is?
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS:
00:05:00
Oh. (SINGING) If you should see an elephant upon a summer's day What would you do? Thank you. Ms. Rachel and Bean andthe Bedtime Routine is on sale right now.
