Notes from Interview w/ Joe Lyons and Peter Scupelli 9/16

With three further refined storyboards in hand (digital artboard, interactive path, interactive object), we conducted another set of interviews, testing for usability, usefulness, and comfort level with our three concepts.

Our first interview was with Joe Lyons, father of two — Max, 4 yrs and Emma 3 yrs. Key takeaways from the interview are outlined below:

• Joe’s family’s bedtime routine emerged rather organically. There wasn’t much discussion between him and his wife about how they wanted to handle bedtime, or their long-term goals. The operational requirements dictated the routine, and it has seemed to work since them. While Joe is often in charge of bedtime routine, his wife often helps out and so knows the routine well.
• Bedtime routine starts at 8:20 or 8:30 with a round of warnings, “10 minutes until bedtime….” Then, they all go upstairs for brushing teeth, getting water, and going to the bathroom. Bath time happens every other night, right after dinner, and so is not a part of the bedtime routine.
• If arguments do happen during this transition they revolve around who brushes teeth first — the child that brushed second gets to pick out the book for storytime — or because the kids are in the middle of something they don’t want to stop. In either case, there is not generally any big meltdown as the kids enjoy the bedtime routine.
• Bedtime is easier now that they’ve stopped taking naps at school.
• As they grow older, Joe says he imagines his role in the bedtime routine will change from a managerial role to more of a facilitator — “did you brush your teeth?” Playing though, will always be an important thing for Joe.

“I’ll have to be dragged away from playing with my kids. As long as they want it, I’ll do it. I’m definitely that dad.”

• When asked what being a good parent means to him, Joe talked about being present, being positive and finding a good balance between structure and fun. “It’s important to find the balance to make sure they are enjoying their lives but that they don’t kill themselves.” “Energy,” he said, “is the major struggle to good parenting.”

ARTBOARD

• Joe seemed to like this concept a lot, and saw opportunity around it both as a transitional activity but also as a way to start conversations with kids about their day, their feelings, etc.
• “As kids learn more during the day, and want to talk more about what they’re learning, this tool might be a good way to prompt conversation.”
• “I could see this also being a night-light at night.”

“I get it. I get the opportunities around it.”

• “This could work for any announcement: dinner, bath, bed. It makes these transitions more fun.”
• “We have a little easel in our house, Max is really into drawing. He likes to be the primary artist though. Drawing is about him displaying his creativity.”

INTERACTIVE PATH

• Though Joe’s kids aren’t at quite the age where a tool like this might be useful, because they are still too young to manage bedtime on their own, the reaction to this concept overall was positive.
• “I could see a 6 year old taking more ownership over some of these things.”
• “I could see my kids liking some sort of interactive checklist where they can check off something and feel good knowing they’ve completed it.”
• “This wouldn’t be for me, but I could see it being useful for someone — maybe a single parent who needs to put kids to bed, wash dishes, pack lunches, etc.”

“I don’t see myself using this. This is almost my bedtime routine in a way.”

INTERACTIVE OBJECT

• Joe’s overall reaction to the interactive object was a bit hesitant. He found the idea too prescriptive, often referring to the object as a “cybernanny.” The one feature he did find interesting was the idea of linking the light within the object to some physiological data — heart rate, breathing, etc.

“To this day, I still poke them to make sure they’re still breathing.”

• “I like aspects of this, but I feel like I’m removing myself from the equation. I don’t like that the ball is in charge; The ball says it’s bedtime, gotta go! Maybe some of these features could be integrated into a toy they already have in a playful way? Like, ‘Leonardo is tired, let’s take him to bed’ rather than an agent in control.”

GENERAL FEEDBACK

• The art board seems like a fun, group activity. The interactive path helps to foster independence, and the ball is a cybernanny in charge.
• “The artboard provides an option for everyone to be involved in fantastical, fun play. The path provides a cool feature for when they get older.”

Our next interview was with Peter Scupelli, father of Felix 4 1/2 years old.

• Bedtime in Peter’s house starts with dinner, which ends at 7:30. After dinner Felix takes a bath, and if he was good he gets to watch TV on the Amazon fire. “Everything is a TV fight,” Peter explained. They’d like him to be asleep by 8:30.
• Peter’s son hates to sleep, so he often feels like he has to trick him into it. He’s always trying to negotiate his way out of it. Peter appreciates his drive to stand up for himself, but he’s trying to nurture it for good.

“He’s always hated sleeping, even as a baby. He’s afraid he’ll miss out if he sleeps. He drags everything out. Everything is a negotiation. He also just doesn’t want someone else deciding for him when it’s time to go to bed.”

• Reading books is an active activity in Peter’s house. His son is learning to read, and the parents engage him in reading books. “How many ducks are on the page?”
• Keeping things on track during bedtime routine is the hardest part.

“Felix will negotiate about everything. The only thing that seems to be less difficult is if he’s watching something and the piece of technology dies. He knows it’s an exercise in futility to negotiate with a dead computer, so he’ll accept it and go to sleep.”

• When asked to consider what makes a good parent, Peter mentioned being present, both physically and mentally, spending quality time and doing things together, teaching his son, and being patient. When asked what he looks for in his son to know he’s doing a good job, Peter said “you want your kid to be obedient. If I tell him once and he does something that successful. I don’t want to have to threaten taking away TV all the time. There’s a difference between being powerful, and being a good parent, and I don’t like using my power in that way.”

“I often think, can’t we all just get along? That’s just not how he see’s the world.”

ARTBOARD

• “Though the technology might be helping here, it doesn’t make me feel like a good parent to be working at home while my son is playing. I spend all day alone at work. If my son and wife are awake I want to be spending time with them.”
• “Sending Felix to bathtime has to be part of the game. ‘I’ll race you up the stairs.’ Otherwise, sending him to bathtime is a fight.”
• “I think the notification system might be more useful for a remote parent. For example, if my wife is over talking to the neighbor and I’m putting Felix to bed, it would be nice if she got notifications telling her where we are in the bedtime process. She might even be able to prod me to move things along if we are dragging.”

INTERACTIVE PATH

• “This scenario gives a good illustration of how this might work if all goes as planned, but what if things aren’t going as they should. The system should work in the other case as well, if a kid doesn’t follow the directed path, and notify parents so they can step in.”
• “The system should provide both awareness of what the kid should do next, but also remind him/her of what happens if they don’t.”

INTERACTIVE OBJECT

• “It’s surprising how absent the parent is in this scenario. I think the parent would still need to enforce this scenario.”

“Don’t take away these precious 30 minutes I get to spend with my kid.”

• “It would be interesting to see how this might use certain colors that trigger sleepiness. Maybe the color of the lights follows the sunset to ease the transition to sleep?”
• “The real time physiological data wouldn’t really mean anything to me. If he’s sleeping, I’m sleeping too. What I would really be interested in is asynchronous data. I want to know what happened during his day, so I can predict what’s going to happen at bedtime. For example, if he had a nap at school, I know it’s going to be harder to get him to sleep. The information could also be useful for his school. If he didn’t sleep well, they know he’s going to be difficult.”