Main Line Dad Launches Sleep Podcast For Kids

MERION STATION, PA — When Merion Station's Josh Fleishman was trying to get his son Max to sleep, he asked him what would help relax him.

Max at bedtime likes to listen to podcasts about trucks and construction equipment to calm his nerves before hitting the hay. But on one particular night in August, Max's favorite podcast wasn't available.

So Fleishman told his boy a story, rubbed his back, and sent Max off to sleep.

"In that moment, it clicked for me," Fleishman told Patch.

Fleishman, who had previously done some voice work and was already a fan of relaxing videos that trigger calming and tingling sensations, dived headfirst into his new venture: "The Bedtime Scientist Podcast."

As of Oct. 17, about 30 days after the podcast's launch, Fleishman has already surpassed 1,500 downloads in 32 countries. The growth, he said, has all been organic with no money spent on advertising.

The Bedtime Scientist Podcast is a low stimulation podcast with episodes focusing on a new scientific topic, "which can be perfectly boring and made dreamy," Fleishman said.

"My goal is to take a big complex scientific idea — like the aurora borealis, volcanoes, how stars are made — and make it approachable and calming," he said. "We are bringing facts to a level that kids can comprehend, relate to, and bringing the mind to a place of still and acceptance."

The nature of a science-based podcast lends itself to nearly unlimited topics, though Fleishman aims to keep his episodes on the kid-friendly side.

This new project has been a "life raft" for Fleishman. He lost his job in June, and his family has dealt with illness and death recently.

"Never has something come so easily to me," he said of creating, recording, and sharing The Bedtime Scientist.

Fleishman spent the better part of the last two decades working in the backend of healthcare, connecting hospitals with acute care providers.

"I rarely saw the result of that work," he said. But with Bedtime Scientist, he's getting heaps of positive feedback.

"The response has been overwhelming," he said. Parents of fussy sleepers have shared how Fleishman's calming voice and simplified science lessons have made their bedtime routines much smoother.

And, it's not just kids who are enjoying his new podcast. Adults 55 to 65 have also been clocked downloading the show.

But, the local dad wants his listeners to know one thing: the show is not a replacement for reading to kids.

"A parent's voice to a child is the most comforting and powerful tool," he said. "My goal is to be a support to parents, not a replacement. For those hard nights when kids can't calm down."

The Bedtime Scientist is available on most podcast platforms — including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Yoto, Amazon Music and Audible — but Fleishman is also releasing his episodes in book form.

"The book concept is to provide a script for the same stillness," he said. The books allow parents to use their voice and Fleishman's words as tools in their quest to help heir little ones get to sleep.

Fleishman even deliberately added ellipses in his books to help readers slow down and allow the words to wash over them in a wave of relaxation.

"That negative space, that pause, is the most impactful part of the show," he said. "By including that space, it almost forces the listener to breath and gives their brain a moment to process what they heard."

While the pauses may be the most important aspect of the show to Fleishman, they're not his favorite.

"My favorite part of the show is the ending I wrote," he said.

When he was discussing the idea for Bedtime Scientist with a friend, they told him the world needs another Mr. Rogers.

"That hit me like a ton of bricks," he said. "I grew up watching him. There was no one more calming, loving, accepting of different in people. He embodied all the things a good person could be."

That became Fleishman's goal with The Bedtime Scientist.

He asked himself: how could he bring that voice of acceptance and tolerance to people at bedtime?

"I end each show with, 'I want you to know something about you, your mind is a wonderful thing, so full of curiosity, and I like your mind just the way it wonders,'", he said.

That ending creates a sense of intimacy, safeness, steadfastness, and protection, he said.

And the key to evoking those feelings? "I talk to that microphone like I'm talking to my kids."

The Bedtime Scientist Podcast releases new episodes every Monday.

Learn more about The Bed Time Scientist Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and the show's website.