Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
Don't despair. A Fairfax County woman has come up with a way to soothe your anxieties, an audio tape of lullabies to make '90s dads better crooners.
Called ``Daddy-Byes,'' the 40-minute collection features traditional infant hits such as ``Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,'' ``The Mockingbird Song'' and ``Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra, That's an Irish Lullaby.'' One side features a man singing the songs and the other has only the tunes, giving fathers a chance to practice.
The lullaby recording market has traditionally been dominated by women with soothing voices. But Margaret Janger Flynn decided that a ``manly'' tape might attract families intent on getting dads in on a good tradition. For some reason, she said, many men these days don't know lullaby lyrics.
``Fathers have become so much more of a team player and aren't a sideline parent anymore,'' Flynn said. ``They're doing their best. And for those dads who are having difficulty finding the right words and the right songs, `Daddy-Byes' is here to help.''
The 33-year-old Flynn got the idea last fall after hearing her husband, Bill, fumble the lyrics while putting their 18-month-old daughter, Hayley, to bed. He was trying to accompany a tape of a woman singing songs about moms, she said.
``The songs were `Mommy this' and `Mom that,' and there was a female vocalist, too,'' she said. ``And I thought, gee, there should be a guy song.''
Flynn, who gave up a teaching career in Fairfax to stay at home, figured her venture would give her a chance to make a little extra money without leaving the house.
She talked to her brother-in-law, Tim Flynn, an actor, and he agreed to sing the songs. She took a short business course for budding entrepreneurs at George Mason University's Small Business Development Center and sought the advice of several baby-shop managers.
Then she turned to the phone books and found a recording studio in Burke that would do the work she wanted. Another firm, in Springfield, manufactured the 500 tape duplications. She even found a printer in Fairfax to publish the lyrics included with the tape.
Since June, the tape has shown some promise. About 250 copies have been sold at $8.50 each in places like the Children's Bookshop and Baby Boomer stores in Northern Virginia.
Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.