Bedtime Stories Made Easier

Former North Bay journalist Rick Polito was running out of steam on creative new bedtime stories for his two kids -- and he was forgetting the ones he had already told.

A newspaper-reporter-turned-stay-at-home-dad, Polito noticed how much his children loved the stories he made up but he also noticed how hard it is to spin a tale at the end of a long day.

“The problem with bedtime stories is they happen at bedtime,” Polito said. Other parents told him they were often too tired or even too intimidated to try.

So Polito, who now lives in Boulder, Col., created "Shake-N-Tell," a free iPhone app that gives prompts to help parents retell the special "ABC's" story you made up last week or the other one that you can't remember from the night before.

Polito in this video explains his dilemma and how Shake-N-Tell resolves it.

Polito, a former features writer for the Marin Independent Journal, says his "Shake-N-Tell" iPhone app will be showcased Sunday in his hometown paper in Tucson, Ariz. and is also mentioned in the Pacific Sun, where he still writes a television column.

Download the app here.

Click here for more on how "Shake-N-Tell" works.