Separated by Miles and Still Reading Together
As you may know my oldest daughter, Shayna, lives in Tallahassee, Florida while I am in Washington, DC. Shayna is the mother of my 1st grandson, Kevin and he is now two years old. While I don’t see him nearly as much as I’d like to, we stay in touch via webcams and telephone calls.
One of the greatest joys of being in a child’s life for me was not just playing with them and watching them grow, but reading to them and with them. I love reading books to children and watching their eyes light up with wonder as the stories unfold. Technology has now made it so that you can actually share a book with someone, read to or with them when they are miles and miles away!
Readeo was founded in 2009 by CEO Coby Neuenschwander while living in Chicago with his son Oliver. Because of the distance between Oliver and his grandparents, they were having trouble establishing a meaningful relationship. Visits only happened a couple of times per year, phone calls were inadequate, and video chat alone didn’t hold Oliver’s attention. Reading together became the vehicle for establishing and strengthening the relationship between grandparent and grandchild. So he developed a product to make this possible.
Readeo allows two people who are separated geographically to share books together in real time while connected in a BookChat (in which they can see each other via a video connection). On the screen, they see the same digitized picture book and turn the pages together. Many people that are in the military use this so it isn’t just for us Grandparents 
.
They offer a large variety of books that you can choose from and the books are perfect for child of all ages and even toddlers. My Grandson Kevin really enjoys the ‘Does a Chimp Wear Clothes’ story and I love watching the expression on his face as I read it to him.
If you know me, then you know that I love a good bargain. Readeo is actually totally free for a 2 week trial (that’s what sold me on the program). The sign up process was really easy for me and my daughter and after our trial was over my daughter actually purchased the program for me (as a gift!). I thought it was a beautiful gift idea and my grandson and I use it often and have certain nights of the week that Nana (that me) reads him his bedtime story.
Stop on by the Readeo site and just take a look for yourself at how cool it is. Just imagine being able to read a story to a loved one that is miles away or having a loved one read a story to your child when they are out of town. I do know that as Kevin grows older he will be able to remember the bedtime stories that I read to him even though I wasn’t physically there to tuck him in.
