The FableFleet Blog

Stories, ideas, and gentle guidance for parents

Two moms writing through the same milestones you are: what we tried, what worked for a while, and what we had to change. The stories we make are for the same moments.

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Topics

Two HomesJuly 14, 2026
Two Homes Book: The Warm Picks for Kids of Divorce (and What a Book Cannot Do)
Two homes book, the short version. Claire Masurel's Two Homes (Candlewick, 2001) is the anchor pick most librarians and pediatricians hand parents for a reason: warm, low-conflict, both houses are home, nobody is the bad guy. Melanie Walsh's Living with Mom and Living with Dad and Marian De Smet's I Have Two Homes are the two closest companions. What any two-homes book cannot do is put your child's name in the story or your child in the picture, which is where a personalized story can sit alongside it. This piece walks the shelf and names what to look for.
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Anxiety and FearsJuly 9, 2026
Book About Being Brave: The Picks That Actually Land With Scared Kids
Book about being brave: the picks that consistently land are gentle picture books where a character faces a specific fear (dark, monsters, first time doing something hard) and finds their brave. Pediatric sources (KidsHealth, Zero to Three) treat story as one useful piece of the calm bedtime mix, not a cure. What a brave book gives your child is shared vocabulary and a rehearsal for their own moment. What it will not do alone: erase a fear or replace a predictable bedtime routine. Pair the book with the calm plan.
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Picky EatingJuly 9, 2026
Books for Picky Eaters: What Actually Helps and What Does Not
Books for picky eaters can help modestly, mostly by giving families shared vocabulary for talking about brave eating outside of mealtimes. Classic titles include Bread and Jam for Frances, Green Eggs and Ham, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, and D.W. the Picky Eater. Books are a supplement, not a fix; repeated low-pressure exposure and the Satter Division of Responsibility are the load-bearing work. Read the books outside of meals, model brave eating yourself, and skip the guilt if your child is not persuaded.
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Anxiety and FearsJuly 9, 2026
Childhood Fears: A Calm, Pediatrician-Backed Guide for Parents
Childhood fears are the normal, developmental worries kids move through, from stranger fear as a baby to monsters and the dark in preschool to real-world worries in early school years. Pediatric authorities (AAP, KidsHealth, Lurie Children's) treat most childhood fears as a phase that eases with time, calm routines, and gentle reassurance. What helps most: take the fear seriously, keep bedtime predictable, add small comfort tools (nightlight, comfort object, brave-flashlight), avoid scary media, and skip the mocking or forced exposure. Call your pediatrician if a fear stops sleep, eating, or play, or if it lasts more than a few weeks with no easing.
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Anxiety and FearsJuly 9, 2026
Fear of the Dark: A Calm, Real Guide for Parents at Bedtime
Fear of the dark is one of the most common childhood fears and typically peaks between ages 3 and 6. Pediatric authorities (KidsHealth, AAP, Lurie Children's) treat it as a normal developmental phase driven by the imagination outpacing the ability to soothe itself. What helps most: take the fear seriously, keep a predictable bedtime routine, add a small nightlight and comfort object, and skip scary media before bed. Call your pediatrician if the fear stops sleep for weeks, spreads to daytime, or comes with physical symptoms like stomachaches or panic-like breathing.
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Picky EatingJuly 9, 2026
Food Chaining: The Feeding-Therapy Method You Can Borrow at Home
Food chaining is a feeding-therapy method developed by Fraker, Fishbein, Cox, and Walbert (2007) that expands a picky eater's accepted-food list by bridging from an accepted food to adjacent foods with similar taste, temperature, and texture. Feeding specialists use it for complex cases; parents can use a lighter version at home, similar to the AAP's "food bridges" advice. Start with your child's list, pick one target food adjacent to an anchor, and offer it repeatedly with zero pressure.
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Anxiety and FearsJuly 9, 2026
How Not to Be Scared of the Dark: The Bedtime Plan That Works
How not to be scared of the dark is a step-by-step calm plan, not a single magic move. Pediatric guidance (KidsHealth, AAP, Zero to Three) converges on the same short list: name the feeling, keep the bedtime routine predictable, add a small nightlight and a favored comfort object, hand your child one thing they control (like a brave-flashlight), talk about the fear during daytime rather than at lights-out, and model calm yourself. Most kids move through the phase in weeks to months. Call your pediatrician if the fear lasts weeks with no easing or blocks sleep.
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Anxiety and FearsJuly 9, 2026
Infant Bad Dreams: What the Pediatric Sources Actually Say
Infant bad dreams are almost never nightmares in the true sense until around the toddler years. Pediatric authorities (AAP, KidsHealth, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic) treat waking crying in babies under about 6 months as much more likely to be discomfort, hunger, gas, sleep-cycle transitions, or overtiredness than a bad dream. Real nightmares typically start around 1 to 2 and peak between 3 and 6. Night terrors are different from nightmares and are handled differently. What helps most: a calm predictable bedtime, low-stimulation evenings, and a soft response when your child wakes upset. Call your pediatrician if wakings are worsening or come with concerning symptoms.
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Anxiety and FearsJuly 9, 2026
Monsters Under the Bed: A Calm Guide for the Scared Bedtime
Monsters under the bed is one of the most common preschool fears, driven by the same developing imagination that lets a 3 or 4 year old play pretend. Pediatric sources (Lurie Children's, KidsHealth, AAP) treat it as a normal phase most kids move through with calm reassurance, a predictable bedtime routine, and small comfort tools (nightlight, brave-flashlight, a favored stuffed animal). What helps: take the fear seriously without confirming the monster. What backfires: mocking, forcing exposure, or scary media before bed. Call your pediatrician if the fear stops sleep for weeks or spreads to daytime.
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Picky EatingJuly 9, 2026
Picky Eater Food List: What Most Picky Kids Actually Eat (and How to Expand)
Picky eater food list: a snapshot of the foods your child currently accepts, useful as a baseline for expansion rather than a permanent menu. Foods most picky eaters accept cluster around soft carbs (bread, pasta, rice), mild dairy (cheese, yogurt), plain proteins (chicken nuggets, hot dogs, eggs), fruit, and sweet vegetables (carrots, sweet potato). Expand with food bridges (similar color, flavor, texture), one family meal, and low-pressure repeated exposure. Skip the short-order menu.
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Made just for your child

For the first days, and the hard ones

Short storybook films for the moments that are big when you are small: the first day of school, two homes, a wiggly tooth, the potty, one new food. Two and a half minutes, your child in every scene, their name spoken by the narrator.

See the stories Bedtime stories

We make each one from the details you choose. One time, no subscription.