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Technology

Parents: You Can Thank Your Voice Remote for More Sleep

May 22, 2019

Redirect your kids' morning TV questions to your voice remote. 

 

If there's one parenting gripe that's pretty universal, it's the lack of sleep. Newborn sleep schedules — forget about it —there is little hope there. I'm convinced that rough stage of newborn sleep primes our bodies and minds for years of nightly interruptions and very early mornings. Even when you get into a routine and are *finally* on a decent sleep schedule, your body will crave any opportunity to play catch up. More often than not, those two glorious days on the weekends are the only times when sleeping in (anything past 6:30 a.m.) is a possibility.

I have learned to embrace early weekday mornings and do enjoy basking in the stillness of dawn before anyone else is up. It's a time to squeeze in a quick workout, catch up on work or just sit and have a cup of coffee in silence. 

But the weekends are a little different. 

When we're not ruled by the demands of too-early obligations, Saturdays and Sundays are the perfect opportunity to luxuriate in the absence of harried wake-ups, lunch-making scrambles and rushing off to start the day.

There's one obstacle for that snoozing, though. Kids who want to watch their favorite weekend morning shows!

My kindergartner is so accustomed to rising early for school; her weekend wake-ups are no different. And every weekend presents a similar story. From my barely conscious state, I hear her waddle in, her footsteps shuffling along our long hallway. But for those 10 seconds, I drift in and out, hoping that it's just the wind and that all kids will stay blissfully asleep until 8 a.m.

I then feel the tug of the comforter as she hoists herself onto the foot of the bed. She clumsily crawls up to the headboard, snuggles in between us, gets cozy and then inevitably asks to watch a cartoon. Before Cox's Contour Voice Remote, this mere request would turn into a scavenger hunt to find the remote, then proceed to a game of 20 questions: 'What does that say?' 'What's that cartoon with the dog?' 'Can we listen to Baby Shark?' After all the questions, you might as well throw in the towel. Your sleep has ended.

But since the voice remote has come into our household, yes, there is a brief wake-up from the shuffling, tugging and snuggling, but we are able to take back a bit more sleep to the sound of her whispering "Blues Clues" or "Shimmer and Shine" into the remote. 

With the voice remote in hand, she is able to easily navigate through her choice of cartoons, adjust the volume, switch programs half-way, whatever her little heart (and voice) desires. It is pure genius and my new best friend. Plus, Cox Contour has a Kid Zone, which lets her navigate her favorite shows, movies and channels safely. We set up the parameters based on her age and viewing preference in advance, so we have complete confidence that what she's browsing through is appropriate. 

Thanks to this magical technology, we are able to slowly accrue that catch-up sleep and get those snuggles in at the same time. Sounds pretty luxurious to me.

 

 

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