What began as a reward system and story time tradition to get his young son into a better bedtime pattern has evolved into a children’s book, complete with a box set.
Adam Goddard, Cochrane author and creator of The Treacle Fairies book and box set was inspired to turn his vivid imagery of the bite-sized fairies from a daydream into a children’s book by traditional British fairy folklore.
“The system is to encourage children to behave at bedtime,” explained Goddard, adding that the reward system is based on parents doling out little jars of ‘treacle’ to their children as a reward for the child going to bed without incident.
Treacle is known in Great Britain as ‘golden syrup’ — an uncrystallized syrup commonly used as sweetener and as a condiment; there is also dark treacle, which carries a more distinctive, bitter flavour.
Once the child has earned a certain number of treacle jars (six are included per box set), the child can then exchange the jars for a reward or special treat.
“I’ve always had the imagination and wanted to write a book,” said Goddard, who cited now four and a half year old son, Aston, as his inspiration.
Goddard said local sales through the website, thetreaclefairies.com have been steadily increasing and parent feedback has been very positive.
With some public engagements on the horizon, including the MommyLicious trade show in Calgary April 13, Goddard is pleased to assist parents with an inventive solution for coaxing their wee ones into the close of day.
The Treacle Fairies is geared toward children aged 2-6 years.
A commercial pilot by day, Goddard hopes to carve out some more time in the coming months to work on a full-length novel, not necessarily about treacle fairies.
