Growing up · ages 3 to 6
For the child who wants to and cannot, both at once
Some children want the big slide and freeze at the bottom of the ladder, and no amount of "you can do it" helps. In this story your child, by name, watches other children go, one exactly their size, is offered three steps instead of the whole thing, and decides on the inside, where nobody can help, to go anyway. Watch it before the park, and after, and the deciding is theirs.
- Your child in every scene, made from the details you choose
- The fear is still there at the end, because that is what courage is
- Nobody pushes and nobody rescues
- Three steps offered instead of the whole thing
- Finn hides three times, with a question at the end
$14.99$9.99 USD launch price, one time
Why we made this one
Courage is not the fear going away. It is doing the thing with the fear still present, which is why this story does not end with your child unafraid. They go down the slide scared, and they are still scared at the bottom, and that is the win rather than a softer ending.
The part most parents will not expect is that rescuing backfires exactly the way pushing does. Removing the scary thing, leaving early, or lifting a child up and doing it for them is the loving move that keeps a fear alive, because the child never collects the evidence. So the grown-up in this film does not push, does not rescue and does not leave. They crouch, name the feeling in one sentence, offer three steps instead of the whole slide, and then go quiet.
The watching gets real time, because that is the mechanism and not the padding. A child the same size doing it works measurably better than a bigger one, so the film waits while your child watches somebody exactly their height arrive safely at the bottom.
And nobody says brave girl. Praising the child rather than describing what happened measurably makes children fold faster at the next setback, so the walk home is a plain list. You watched for a long time. You climbed three steps. Then you climbed the rest.
Three moments from the story
Every scene is made from scratch for your child, so these are written here rather than shown.
The watching
One child goes down. Then another. Then one exactly the same size, who gets to the bottom completely fine.
One size smaller
You do not have to go down it. You could climb three steps, and come back down. A real offer, not a trick.
The deciding
Nobody says anything for a long time. One hand on the rail, and the deciding happens on the inside where nobody else can reach it.
How it works
Step 1
Tell us about your child
Their name, age, hair, skin and eyes, and the grown-up who does not push and does not rescue. You see your child's character before you pay. About five minutes.
Step 2
We make the story
Every scene is made just for your child, the narrator reads their name, and it is checked by a person before it goes out.
Step 3
Watch it together
It lands in the FableFleet app and in your email within 24 hours, usually much sooner. Yours to keep and download.
One story, made just for them
One-time purchase, no subscription, delivered within 24 hours.
Launch price
$14.99$9.99 USD
Plus applicable tax. No subscription.
- A 2 to 3 minute storybook film
- Your child in every scene, by name
- The grown-up who does not push and does not rescue
- Music, narration and a keepsake ending
- In the app and in your email within 24 hours
About five minutes to set up. Your film is ready within 24 hours, usually much sooner.
Questions parents ask
- Does the story tell my child to be brave?
- Never. Being brave is not a mood anybody can produce on command, and telling a child to be brave mostly confirms that there is something to be afraid of. Nobody in the film says it.
- My child refuses things and I do not know whether to push.
- Neither, is the honest answer from the research. Pushing costs trust and rescuing keeps the fear alive. What works is staying, naming the feeling once, and offering a version one size smaller, which is exactly what the grown-up in the story does.
- What if they do not manage it?
- Then they got further than last time, and the story is built so that watching, climbing and deciding all count on their own. Nothing in it treats a child who stops as having failed.
- Is the slide frightening on screen?
- No. There is no looming camera, no vertigo shot and no fall of any kind. The fear lives in your child's body, not in the artwork.
- Who is Finn?
- Finn is our little fox. He hides three times in this story, and at the end the film asks how many times you spotted him, then shows where he was.
- How long is it and when does it arrive?
- About two and a half minutes. It is ready within 24 hours, usually much sooner, and you get an email the moment it is done.
- What does it cost?
- $14.99 USD, one time. During launch it is $9.99. Prices outside the United States are shown in your own currency.
FableFleet stories are designed to provide gentle, age-appropriate storytelling support. They are not a substitute for professional medical, mental-health, legal, or therapeutic advice.
The scared feeling was still there, your child. You went anyway. That is the whole of it.