Before we begin, a quick message for the grown-ups. If you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy ad-free listening, unlock four bonus stories per month, and much, much more, you can join Coco Club. Subscribe in just two taps via the link in the show notes. But now here's a quick word from our sponsors. Hey, parents. My name is Jessica Porter, and I'm the host of Sleep Magic, the Sleep Hypnosis podcast. As a hypnotherapist, I've helped many parents tackle their sleep troubles, whether it's letting go of bedtime worries or getting back to sleep after tiny bedroom intruders. I know finding peace amidst all that life brings can be tough. But since 2021, I've been delivering weekly episodes of Solution-Focused Sleep Hypnosis, which have now helped with over five million restless nights. Sleep Magic has proven to help you relax really deeply, maybe more deeply than you have in years. With a mix of hypnosis techniques, meditations, and classic bedtime stories, each week there's brand new episodes to help you unwind and fall asleep effortlessly. You can find me and Sleep Magic on all major podcast platforms. Just search Sleep Magic and hit follow so that you can find it easily when you go to bed. Relaxation is truly closer than you think. I'll see you there. Hello koala kids and welcome back to Abbey's Snoozy News, your cosy little round up from Sleep HQ. Tonight we have quite a few exciting things to share, including a little behind the scenes news about someone new joining our storytelling team, a dreamy concert in Moonbeam Heights, and a few familiar friends who may be about to cross paths in a way we've all been waiting for. So snuggle in, get comfy, and let's take our quiet moment together as bedtime gently tiptoes closer. Have you noticed something different in the air lately? The days are stretching out just a little longer. The light lingers softly in the sky before fading into dusk. Even the evenings feel lighter somehow. Not busier, not louder, just gently changing. Spring is starting to stir and Easter is slowly on its way. Tonight we're thinking about sleep, about how we rest, how we wind down, and how children all around the world drift off in their own comfy ways. March marks Sleep Awareness Week from the 8th to the 15th, with World Sleep Day falling on March the 13th. A gentle reminder that sleep isn't just something we do at the end of the day, but something that helps us grow, restore and thrive. When you fall asleep your body relaxes, but your mind, well, your mind begins its important night time work. While you're floating into dreams, your brain sorts through the day. It keeps happy memories, practices new skills, and builds tiny connections that help you learn, imagine and understand the world around you. Sleep helps your mind grow stronger. It studies your feelings, it brightens your creativity. Every time you sink into sleep, you are growing. Also, have you noticed how healing sleep is? If you have a fever, or a cold, or any other kind of illness, an early night and many hours of sleep will make you well again. It's like a magic treatment we can give ourselves when things in our body and mind need to be reset. Around the world, children drift off in different ways. In some countries, children eat later in the evening, sharing stories together before bed. In others, the day includes a peaceful rest when the sun is high in the middle of the day, so that the evening can be calm and cool. Some children fall asleep beneath thick blankets, while snow hushes the world outside. Others nod off with the windows open, listening to crickets sing, or waves roll softly onto the shore. Some are tucked up high in city buildings, watching lights blink quietly below. Different places, different sounds, different skies, but the same gentle ending to the day. Here in the koala kingdom, our friends are noticing the seasonal changes too. Coco has been taking slow evening walks, breathing in the fresh forest air as the sky fades from blue to violet. He says even the trees look ready for sleep at dusk. Hector and Sunny have been using their energy earlier in the day, racing through warm patches of sunshine so that when night comes they're more than ready to curl up and snooze deeply. It feels as though everything is settling into a gentle rhythm, days stretching a little longer. Evenings wrapped in calm and comfort. Here at Sleep HQ we're feeling that same cosy sense of change in the air, and with that in mind I have some wonderful news to share. A brand new friend will soon be joining us. Well she's brand new to you, not me. I'm very excited to introduce you to my friend Lauren, whose voice you're soon going to hear at bedtime too. Soon she'll read her first bedtime story, and after that she'll pop in occasionally as sometimes my voice needs a rest. And anyway, I thought it was about time for me to share some of our koala moon magic, and I couldn't think of anyone better than Lauren to share it with. That means, before long, you'll be hearing her calm, gentle voice, helping you drift off and settle into dreamland, and I think it'll be great. We're so pleased to have her here and I know you'll make her feel very welcome. Lauren loves bedtime stories almost as much as me, and we can't wait to hear what you think all about her. Her first tale is about Coco and Kira going to a very special concert in Moonbeam Heights, and I overheard something quite mystical and magical about Moonbeam ice cream. They haven't told me who they're going to see, but I'm fairly sure you may have already figured Let me know in the comments. And there's something else rather exciting on the horizon. Betty Badger may finally, FINALLY be meeting Potato and Beans, and if you know those three, you'll understand just how interesting that could be. I can't help but wonder, might a few culinary tips be exchanged? We'll also be sharing more adventures with Cappy and Tito, and there's a brand new Easter story on its way, Coco and the Magical Chick. We have so many stories waiting for you in the Kuala Kingdom, and we so love being part of your bedtime. Thanks for coming back to the podcast again and again. Okay, well as you snuggle down tonight, imagine children all across the world doing the same. We know we have listeners in Australia, England, America, alongside Kenya, France and lots of other places too. We've gone global. Some will be relaxing after busy exciting days, some after calm quiet ones. Some are watching the first signs of spring. Some are still wrapped in winter's chill. All of them settled in. All of them are growing sleepy. All of them slowly floating into dreamland in their own way. And now after all of our exciting news, let's take a second to take a slow breath in. And let it go softly. Feel your body becoming heavier against the bed. Feel your thoughts becoming lighter. There's nowhere to rush to. Sleep will come. It might tiptoe in quietly. It might wrap around you like a warm blanket. It might arrive so gently that you hardly notice the moment you slip from listening into dreaming. Well, I can feel my own eyelids growing heavy now. And if you don't quite make it to the very end of snoozy news, that simply means you've already drifted off. And that is exactly as it should be. Sweet dreams.
