Many parents in Romania are forced to leave their families due to financial circumstances and leave for work to a foreign country, where salaries are a bit higher than those offered in the East European country. Unfortunately, there are many children who have to grow up with their relatives or grandparents.
Still, they keep seeking their mom’s affection. Sadly, these children often suffer from emotional trauma, as a result of their parents taking on employment in another country.
Although none of these parents want to live like this, this is the reality in nowadays Romania. Yet, there are companies that want to help them. Just like Telekom Romania. The brand has come to the aid and offers to deal with this problem with an app which was specially developed for parents living far away from their little ones. Reading a bedtime story to kids increases the emotional evolution of the youngsters, enhances their academic status, and boosts their creative spirit. Inspired by the results found by the American Academy of Paediatrics, and helped by Leo Burnett Bucharest, Telekom developed Storytime app, an online tool that allows parents to reconnect with their offspring via the magical world of literacy.
As the first-ever app for long-distance bedtime stories, Storytime enables moms to recreate the magic of storybooks even when they are very far from their precious youngsters. To show how the app works, the Bucharest-based agency created a video for which it invited Ariana Carcu and her mother, Alexandrina, to tell their part of the story. Alexandrina first left Romania when Ariana was only one year old. Instead of taking care of her baby, the mom cares for people who end up at a hospital in Marburg where she works.
Besides missing her mother, the daughter also missed her voice. The one voice that helps her fall asleep with ease. Ariana would give anything to hear her mom’s voice when being tucked in bed. But now, thanks to Telekom and its ingenious app, the little girl is able to not only hear her mother’s soothing words but actually see how her parent becomes part of some magical story.
Thanks to Telekom’s playful app, parents are now able to choose from a selection of classic children’s stories. When they read out the story on the screen, their kid can watch as the parent “morphs” into a popular fairy-tale character. This charming feature functions thanks to a series of special filters englobed in the app. Since its launch, the Storytime app has been highly-applauded and has become Europe’s number 1 app in the App store. Available in Romanian and in English, the app is free to download in six countries; Romania, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the UK.
“Whatever the reason the parents have to be away from their child, most kids do not have the ability to easily cope with being separated from their parents. And the bond between the parent and the child is crucial for the child’s emotional well-being. This app will help maintain that connection by enabling precious moments to be shared as if they are in the same room. Even if they are apart,” explains Ali Bati, Leo Burnett Bucharest Chief Creative Officer, in the press release.
No one likes to be apart from their families, especially when we talk about kids. But thanks to the Storytime app, children can reconnect (not only) with their moms to strengthen the bond between them. Thanks, Telekom, for making these things happen to the unfortunate kids who are able to hug their parents just a few times per year!