Here's the thing about the "you're going to be a big sibling!" conversation: your child hears the words, nods, and understands roughly nothing — because the real event isn't information, it's feelings: jealousy they'll be ashamed of, love they didn't expect, and the seismic question underneath: is there still room for me?
Talks address the information. Stories rehearse the feelings.
The three-story prep (start in the second trimester)
1. All feelings are allowed — including the ugly ones. The Feelings Festival (Zumblies Episode 4) matters most here for one booth: there's a place at the festival for every feeling. A child who has internalized that anger and sadness are visitable, nameable places is a child who can say "I'm in Anger Alley about the baby" instead of expressing it via the baby's toys. The guidance at Zero to Three on sibling adjustment says the same: normalize the negative feelings early, out loud.
2. Different doesn't mean less. Together We're Stronger (Episode 10): the chain is strong because every link is different. Pre-load the frame: "our family is getting a new link — a different one, not a replacement one."
3. Needing rest doesn't mean not loving you. Kindra's Perfect Day (Episode 5) quietly preps a hard reality: the kindest, most loving figure sometimes says "no, not today" and needs rest — and is still just as loving. That's a story your child will need on the day you're feeding the baby and can't come right now.
After the baby lands
Guard the story ritual fiercely — ten minutes, just the big kid, every night, non-negotiable. In the room where everything changed, the unchanged thing is the proof there's still room for them. That was the question all along.
All three prep stories: Season 1, 10 ebooks, $39 instead of $70.
There's room. Prove it nightly. 👶💛