Shhh…
Don't tell the kids, but Pepipacifoofoo is really a parenting tool
in the guise of a sweet bedtime story.
Win-win.
The story behind the story:
When my daughter, was about to turn two, she was still dependent on her pacifier. Going to bed was impossible if the pacifier wasn't around. A little whining from her and I had the pacifier at the ready, because nothing tests a parent's patience quite like a toddler tantrum and refusals to go to sleep, right? Not having at least three pacifiers on me at all times set off a mild panic attack. That was a wake-up call. I realized it was my crutch; I was just as dependent on the pacifier as my daughter was.
It's not uncommon for kids to be more receptive to directions coming from anyone other than Mom or Dad. My daughter was no different so I had to shift the instruction to give up the beloved pacifier away from me. It had to come from someone else.
I wrote the story and drew some pictures on printer paper and read it to my daughter one night. I did not preface it with any suggestions, requests or pleas for her to give up the pacifier. I also did not tell her at that time that I had written it for her. It was simply a bedtime story.
It had made such an impression on my daughter that "Pepipacifoofoo" had taken a life of her own. After we finished reading the story, my daughter told me she wanted to help Pepi. Soon after, she enthusiastically followed all of Pepi's instructions and left all her pacifiers out on the doorstep one evening. She found out the next morning that Pepi keeps her promise, just as the story says. We never saw any of her pacifiers again.
The response from children and parents alike has been positive that it has been published solely from Kickstarter funds raised by a very supportive community who believed in a dream. Support came from US, UK, Canada, and even Iceland. See the Kickstarter campaign and the book's journey here.