Our Hope
At first glance, Slumberkins are soft, cute, cuddly creatures. But beneath the surface, we strive to give kids and families so much more. The intent of Slumberkins is to encourage positive attachments between caregivers and children though original and interactive stories that encourage skill development. Each Slumberkin comes with an original, interactive, Sleepytime Rhyme, addressing a skill for children to practice. The three attachment skills include; mindfulness, self-esteem, & relaxation.
We believe that strong and healthy attachments with a caregiver are the building blocks to self esteem, positive self-concept, and healthy relationships. If children can find comfort and security in our Slumberkins, while also giving parents and caregivers a tool for addressing specific skills, we feel that we have done something worthwhile for our precious future generation.
Our Story
We, Callie (pronounced Kaylee) and Kelly, have been best friends for over half our lives. We have moved through most of life's important events together, starting in high school when we became fast friends through a shared interest in sports. Whether it was visiting each other every year at our undergraduate Universities (University of Hawaii & University of Oregon) or living in Spain and Switzerland together post college, we have stayed close and connected through life's ups and downs.
We both returned to the Pacific Northwest after exploring the world separately and together for many years. Our shared love of children and education took us to graduate school at the same time, with different focuses. Callie focused her Masters work in special and general education while Kelly pursued a dual masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and School Counseling. Within a few years, we both found ourselves expecting baby boys, only two months apart. While on maternity leave, we were able to spend most of our postpartum days together, supporting and lamenting the ups and downs of motherhood. It was during this precious time, that Slumberkins was born.
We first set out to create unique and comforting creatures for our own boys, inspired by the magical Pacific Northwest. Inevitably, we saw a way to infuse our educational expertise into a theme behind each one. Almost immediately, we became impassioned to share them with the families we worked with when we returned to our careers in education. Thus, the creative development of our Sleepytime Rhymes began.
We quickly found that our unique designs had a broader reach than we ever expected. From our first craft fair, to our beginnings on Etsy, we found that people resonated with our designs and the intention behind them. We have been completely humbled by the experiences and lessons we have learning over this past year of being in business. Becoming entrepreneurs has been a steep learning curve, but we are so grateful for our amazing customers who have been on this journey with us; showing us compassion, patience, and enthusiasm every step of the way.
