For about a year now, I’ve worked with many of you to put together a beautiful, custom-designed, parent-child journal. It is time now for the big unveiling…
The “Executive Summary” Version
And all this while requiring just a few minutes of your time, and done at whatever pace that works for your family’s schedule.
Got elementary school-aged kids? Then you don’t want to miss this!
What Makes the Connected Hearts Journal So Special?
You can walk into any bookstore and pick up a journal. So what makes this journal special? (And why should you absolutely get one for your kids? 🙂 )
The devil is in the details. And we have spared no effort.
It’s all about building up your child as you record their memories.
And doing it in such a way that they’ll be asking you to do the journal with them instead of the other way around!
It all starts right at the box…
Every journal comes in a beautiful keepsake box which declares right at the top that this is a special gift for a very special child.
This journal is designed specifically for elementary school aged kids – the perfect age window where they are still quite malleable and understand things well enough, but aren’t surly teens yet.
On opening the box, the first thing your child finds is a sealed envelope with a special letter for them.
Because seriously, what child that age does not like receiving mysterious looking letters? And sealed ones at that!
The “letter” serves two purposes:
- It provides your child instructions on how to use the journal, thus putting them in charge
- And more importantly, it engages your child using a captivating story
Again, the story in the letter is written specifically with elementary school aged kids in mind.
It is full of magic, loss and a winding quest with many ups and downs. It reels your kids in while conveying a simple message: a close connection between parents and kids gives them both magical healing powers.
According to the letter, the journal is a leftover relic from the long lost civilization in the story. And any child who completes this journal with a parent to discover what makes them special, will gain special magical healing powers too.
A scintillating story for the kids. And a beautiful parable for us parents to remember what really matters as we raise our kids.
Flip through the pages below to read it (If you go into full screen mode, use the “two arrow” icon at the bottom right to come back here).
This story then ties in beautifully with our uniquely designed Table of Contents which doubles as both a to-do list and an affirmations list.
Each line in the table of contents corresponds to a section in the journal.
The choice of the different sections to include was guided by research papers and some really awesome books, and is one of the things that makes this journal such a powerful parenting tool.
Each of these sections starts with a cool coloring page.
The artwork for these coloring pages is designed carefully so it’s great fun to color in whether it is mom or dad, doing this with a daughter or son.
Our illustrator Nirali Patel is a mom of two and an artist who also teaches art professionally. She is very tuned into what both kids and grown ups like and has designed unique “progressive complexity artwork” for these coloring pages that is more complex at the top and gets progressively simpler at the bottom, so both you and your kids can enjoy coloring it in together.
The coloring pages are followed by pages that contain questions for kids and prompts for parents, chosen carefully to help you build up your kids one journal entry at a time.
This is the “meat and potatoes” part of the journal. A lot of thought and countless revisions have gone into getting this just right. On one hand this is a great means for capturing memories and snapshots of your life right now. On the other, it is a simple, yet very powerful way to embrace and live the positive parenting style.
We pull in elements from the coloring pages into the writing pages as well in case you need a few minutes between writing to think and ponder. Color them, or not. Either ways, they look beautiful.
And we don’t want to restrict you with what we think are good prompts/questions. So each section also has blank pages for you to continue exploring the topic on your own.
And now for the coolest part of the journal… the “secrets” section.
At the bottom of each writing page is a small section asking your child if they have any secrets to share with you that day, and what they would like you to do once you’ve read the secret.
The secret itself is written in a separate, isolated section at the back of the journal, and the page number is copied over onto today’s page.
This is my daughter’s favorite part. Most of the “secrets” she shares feel trivial to me. And sometimes, she is just playing with them. But by diligently honoring her request to either discuss them or not, I prove to her that she can trust me, paving the way for bigger secrets and more difficult conversations to come bubbling up later.
So there, you have it… the whole enchilada.
You can flip through the digital mini-version of the journal below to get a feel for it… (If you go into full screen mode, use the “two arrow” icon at the bottom right to come back here).
And of course, after all the thought and planning we’ve put in this, there’s no way we’re going to hold back on the quality of the final product!
The journal is printed on very high-quality paper and comes as a fabric hardcover book.
There’s a beautiful satin bookmark built right in, so you can stop whenever your child gets tired.
We use a durable lay-flat binding to make it super easy for you to work on it with your child.
And all this in a sturdy, beautifully designed, keepsake magnetic closure box. (And what kid, or for that matter parent, can resist a magnetic closure box?!)
As you can see, a lot of thought has gone into this journal.
I couldn’t have done this without you! Your generous comments, suggestions, emails, participation in surveys and feedback are what helped me turn a simple idea into such an involved, one-of-a-kind, beautiful product!
And now I need your help to bring it to life.
With all the bells and whistles, and creative choices I’ve made, working with a traditional publisher turned out to be next to impossible.
But I didn’t want to give up on it. Or compromise. So, I decided to self-publish / manufacture it!
(Saying it out loud still freaks me out a bit… *deep breath*)
And that requires a fair bit of upfront investment.
So I am turning to Kickstarter, a crowd funding platform to raise the money.
(If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter please see bottom of page for a quick Kickstarter FAQ)
And I need your help!
If you like this journal, please back me on Kickstarter when the campaign goes live on Wednesday (Oct 12th).
Here are some fantastic rewards you can get for backing –
We have limited quantities available at the Super Early Bird and the Early Bird level of pledges. These are units specially set aside for you, the members of our community who made this happen. Please take advantage of them.
Now, I understand that not every can back us financially. And that is fine! Please help us by getting the word out.
Every. Little. Bit. Helps.
Alone, I can only reach so many. But with your help we can reach a lot of committed, like-minded parents.
Talk to them. Text them. Whatsapp them. Email them. Tag them on FB, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram. Shout from rooftops. (Well, maybe not 🙂 )
OK, so there it is.
I’ve not been this nervous about something in a very long time! But a lot of work has gone into this and I have a good feeling that many of you will support me.
So, let’s do this!
I will email you on Wednesday (Oct 12th) morning when the campaign goes live (around 10-ish am Central Time). If you are not already on our email list, please be sure to sign up here so you don’t miss that email.
Please support in any way you can as soon as you can, after receiving the email. Early traction is everything when it comes to Kickstarter!
Quick Kickstarter FAQs
1. What is Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is a “crowdfunding” platform where creators (like me) go to raise money to fund creative projects (like this journal).
As a creator, I make my case on the campaign page about why this journal is important and why it must be brought to life.
Those who see the campaign page, evaluate the idea. And if they like it, they “back” the project by making a “pledge”.
I hope some of you will choose be the initial backers and make a pledge (think of it as “pre-ordering”).
2. Why do you need my support on Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is an All-or-Nothing proposition. When I start the campaign, I have to declare a minimum funding goal. If I don’t manage to raise at least the minimum funding goal, I get nothing. And then I’ll either have to look for other ways to fund the project, or abandon it completely.
I really, really don’t want that to happen 🙂
There are over 320,000 campaigns on Kickstarter to date. Getting noticed in this sea of campaigns is next to impossible. If I was a solo creator, I would likely not have considered Kickstarter as an option at all.
However, I have you! I am hoping that you will help and we can start the campaign with a bang. Early traction is a huge thing on Kickstarter.
If we can start with some early backers, it will get the project noticed by the Kickstarter team who will hopefully list the project on the Kickstarter main page. Or it may put us on the radar of big bloggers who write about Kickstarter projects. Or it will catch the eye of media sources.
This will hopefully result in a few more people joining us. And they will hopefully spread the word. And things will start to ripple out…
So yeah, my task now is to create a ripple effect. Or get a snow ball started. A huge ripple or a snow ball.
And I am kinda hoping that you will help 🙂
3. How can I support you on Kickstarter?
There are 2 ways to support.
a. Support financially. There are many pledge levels to fit any budget starting with as little as $1. Each pledge level is associated with a reward as shown in the reward chart above.
Based on your earlier survey responses, I noticed that most of you prefer the $25 – $50 range. Which is why I have set the super early bird and early bird levels in this range. I hope you will take advantage of these.
If you can swing a bigger budget though, I would love for you to pledge at higher levels and give away a few journals as gifts. These would make for very unique and meaningful presents for nieces and nephews or for your kids’ friends!
b. Support by sharing. If you can’t support financially, that’s perfectly fine! You can help by getting the word out. We all know someone out there who would would love a journal like this. Text them. Email them. Tag them on facebook, pinterest, twitter, instagram etc. Tell them about it at the water cooler.
Every little bit helps!
4. How do I pay for the pledge?
Currently, Kickstarter accepts pledges via debit or credit card associated with Visa, Discover, MasterCard, or American Express.
Your credit card will not be charged when you make the pledge. At the end of the campaign (Nov 11th), only if we have successfully raised an amount equal or more than the minimum funding goal, your credit card will be charged.
If you are remotely interested in this journal, I would highly recommend locking in the super early bird pricing. If you decide later not to get it, you can always cancel your pledge (up until the end of the campaign).
5. When will I receive my journal?
Kickstarter will release funds to us about 2 weeks after the campaign ends. Production of the journal can start only after that.
We have a fantastic manufacturer lined up to make these journals for us. The pictures you see above are of the 1st prototype the manufacturer made for us. We’ve decided to make a few design changes based on the physical prototype. Based on these changes, we plan to make a 2nd prototype and once we are 100% satisfied that it is the the best product we can put out there, we will place a bulk order.
With the extended turnaround times due to the holiday season in the horizon, I expect this process to take around 3-4 months. We have a small buffer built in for contingencies. So, the plan now is to ship this to you by May 2017, so you can have it in time for your kids Summer Break.
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That’s all the questions I can think of at the moment. If you have any other questions, please do let me know in the comments below and I will answer them asap and as best as I can.
Will this be available to be shipped to the UK?
Hi there,
Will this book be available in South Africa.
Would so love to have this book. It is awesome.
Kind Regards
Hannecke
Will this wonderful idea be shipped to Singapore???
Belle, Hennecke and Lynn, Thank you so much for your interest! Figuring out the international shipping details for all different countries was turning to be a far more difficult problem than I had anticipated…
The (kind-of) solution I ended up with is to add a flat shipping charge for all international backers, but it is a bit on the high end. This is the only way I can ship anywhere in the world at the moment 🙁
If you have friends or family in the US, I highly recommend getting it shipped to them and picking it up when you meet next as it will likely be much more economical.
Everyone, If you are outside the US and have ordered things from US and come across any smart shipping solutions that keep cost down, please do let me know. I would love to consider it! Thank you in advance (both from me and all our international readers!)
Hi Sumitha
I’m in Australia and would also love to order copies and will share with my network of friends
What is the shipping charge you’ve discovered?
Thanks
Ruth
So glad that you are interested in this, Ruth! The shipping charges are different for different sized rewards. I just got the campaign is up though. So you can take a look at all the details here 🙂
Connected Hearts Journal Kickstarter Campaign
I love the entire idea, and I love the look of the book, the only suggestion I have and would really love for you to consider is making the binding a spiral binding you can still put it in the lovely book form with the hard cover surrounding the spiral bound, but I think it would last longer if it were spiral bound.
Really? I was actually looking to move away from spiral bound to get a more bound book kind of feeling! I am actually paying more for the lay-flat binding :O Let me look into this a little more, Sharalyn…
My sister is in Texas itself. I am so interested to get this book she is coming down to India in Dec 2016. Can u tell me how and where can she buy this for me.?
That’s great, Ramya! It won’t be ready by Dec 2016 though 🙁 The Kickstarter campaign is for raising funds to start making the journals and the first batch of journals will ship by May 2017 to the Kickstarter backers. When will she visit you next? Alternately, can she send it to you through someone else at a later date?
This looks amazing. I can’t wait till Wednesday!
Yaay! So happy to hear that Rose. Thank you! You just made my day 🙂
This is great! Keep me in the loop, and I will be sure to share the kickstarter with everyone I know!
Thank you so much, Rian. I really appreciate it! I will send you the mail on Wednesday morning.
Love it! You absolutely nailed the packaging and my daughter will feel so special getting this!
Yaay! I designed it for my daughter (she actually ruled out one of our earlier box designs!) So happy to hear it will likely click with your daughter as well 🙂
Can you check
Book depository.com ? It has free worldwide shipping & no tariffs for EU! Do let us know what you decide because shipping costs are very important for us to proceed with backing th funding 🙂
Thanks Maria. It looks like bookdepository.com is an online book retail store. Once I have the journal manufactured, I will have to reach out to them to see if they will carry it. Will likely not work out for Kickstarter…
In the meantime, I have reached out to a few folks who have run Kickstarter campaigns before… let me see if I can pick their brains a little more 🙂
I loved the concept. Really would like to order 3 but i live in NZ. What is the flat shipping fee? Unfortuntely cant think of anyone I will meet any time soon in the US.(
So glad to hear you loved the concept, M. I am still trying to find better alternatives to ship internationally… will hopefully have it sorted out by the time the Kickstarter launches on Wednesday!
Hi, I absolutely love this idea! The goodnight stories for rebel girls Kickstarter had a reasonable international posting. If you’re still looking for information they may be able to advise!
Fingers crossed for us international purchasers ??
Why did I not think of that??!! Thank you so much for this suggestion, Helen. I have emailed Elena, the person behind “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls”. I know they are swamped right now, and will keep my fingers crossed that she can get back to me before the campaign launches! Thank you!
Woo-hoo! A Kickstarter campaign. The last campaign that I supported was by PeakDesign. It has ended on the Kickstarter platform but is still running on Indiegogo. Apparently, it’s a highly successful one and their products are shipped worldwide.
I’ll definately back your campaign.
And wishing you success!
The way the Peak Design folks run their campaigns has been a huge inspiration to me, Liz. If I can run my campaign a fraction as well as those guys do, I will consider it a success. And thank you so much for your support!
Everyone, thanks to Liz’s and Helen’s comments above, I’ve figured out reasonable rates for shipping internationally. Woot!
(Details if you are interested: As Liz mentioned, the latest Peak Design campaign is on Indiegogo. So is the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls campaign that Helen mentioned! I looked at their campaign and modeled their structure for international shipping rates. Until now, I had been looking at shipping rates for different sizes and weights for different countries and was driving myself nuts. Now I’m just going to go with the structure on the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls campaign and keep things simple 🙂 )
Thank you so much Liz and Helen!!!
Hi, this is a beautiful book, lot of work for you can be proud of! If I support am I able to get the book in Australia? I would need 2 of them. Thank you very much, all the best with the rest of the journey!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Zsuzsanna! Yes! I will be able to ship it to Australia. I just sorted out the international shipping details last night 🙂 I’m so happy that you will be backing 2 of them. Thanks in advance!
My husband and I are raising our 4 year old grandson. In looking at the book it appears that it is aimed strictly at children and their parents rather than grandparents. Thought I would ask your opinion.
Good luck with this endeavor!
Martha
That’s a good question, Martha.
The letter to the child that comes with the journal focuses a lot on doing this with parents. The journal itself does not mention mom or dad though. So, I think you should be able to do this with your grandson and it could be a great way for you and/or your husband to connect with him.
You may want to open the box and get rid of the letter though, if the topic is sensitive. You can read the full letter here to decide for yourself.
Also, you can read a mini version of the journal here to get a feel for what the questions and prompts are like.
Hi. I would like to get this for my 6 year old. I do have a friend that is in Texas at the moment. He will be returning to South Africa on the 5th of November. Can I do a payment and give you his location? Thank you. Roger
I am so glad to hear that you are interested in this, Roger. This is still in the crowdfunding stages though. The actual journal will be manufactured after the crowdfunding campaign and we will have the first copies out by May 2017 🙁 So you won’t be able to get it through your friend.
We did manage to bring the international shipping charges down. So it is relatively low now. Will you please take a look here to see if it works for you? You may be able to get it shipped directly to you, especially if you lock in on the super early bird special prices!
Connected Hearts Journal Kickstarter Campaign
I just now am finding out about your great endeavor. I would love to receive one of the journals, but your kickstart funding period is over. When will you be opening up the opportunity to purchase?
I just found this website so I missed the kickstarter campaign or I certainly my would’ve sponsored!! Are these now available for order or, if not, when can I get one??