Bedtime stories for kids of Academic Advisors

Why this matters

Your job as an academic advisor means you're often helping students find their path while your own child wonders where you are. Those late office hours, the emails that come on weekends, the students who need you right when bedtime rolls around—it all adds up. A bedtime story that puts *you* in it, doing the real work you do, gives your child something concrete: they see you're not just away, you're *building* something. They fall asleep knowing their parent is a guide, a problem-solver, someone who helps others find their way.

Children feel what we don't say out loud. When a story features a parent who listens carefully, who asks good questions, who helps people discover what they're capable of—that's your job, told in their language. Suddenly your long day isn't abandonment; it's something worth staying awake a few extra minutes to hear about. That shift, from "I miss you" to "I get why you do this," happens quietly. But it matters.