Welcome back to Constant Contact, a new regular feature on Macaroni Military Family.  Based on suggestions from you and from neat ideas we come across, we'll share a variety of products, ideas, apps, and services available to help your military family keep the connection strong during separations.  This month, learn all about Ties that Bind Us.

“Ties” is a website allowing parents, family and friends to create a webcam recording of themselves which is combined with a children’s book. This combination is called a Tie and can be watched at any time! For a child, seeing and hearing a parent read a favorite book is not only enjoyable and reassuring, but it is also a highly effective way to learn.

 
  
Ties was created by Mike Snyder, father and National Guardsman, who knows all about separation and the importance of keeping connected.
 
“I had spent much time training with the Army National Guard. Often no form of contact to or from my family was allowed for weeks at a time. With that and an upcoming deployment, I created a webcam recording of myself reading Dr. Seuss’s book “Oh Baby, the Places You’ll Go!” for my, as yet, unborn daughter. My wife fell in love with it! So I decided to create an archive of recordings like this before I deployed. That way, my daughter could see and hear me in a relaxed mood, in our home. And if worse came to worst while deployed, I wanted her to have those recordings to help get to know me later.”  

Mike continues, “My wife asked if there was any way I could integrate the book into the video so that our daughter could see the book while I read it. I looked for a service which could this do but found nothing.  We talked about how a service like this could benefit not only military families, but also business travelers, grandparents and divorced parents far from their loved ones.”  
And that’s all it took … Ties that Bind Us was born!

Ties is unique in that it allows anyone with an internet-connected computer and webcam the opportunity to combine themselves with a storybook … something YouTube and other video services do not allow.

 


Creating “Ties” is easy and free for deployed military! Any family with a deployed parent can set up an account and receive two complimentary Ties for every child in your household.  Just create an account using your military email (which can be changed once your account is verified) and request your free Ties from the contact page to receive your credit.   Once your account is active, preview the available books from the website.  Purchase one to use for your Tie and with your webcam and microphone record as you read and turn the pages to create the Tie.  Then make it available for your kids to watch whenever they want.

And you'll know every time someone watches your Tie. Activate a Kudos notification to alert you of a viewing. Confirmation is received via your e-mail and/or a text message.