Video, audio, or text — which should I use?.

Short answer: whichever you'll actually do. The best message is the one that exists.

Longer answer:

Video

Best for: emotional weight, body language, the moments where your kid needs to see you say it.

Use video when the words alone won't carry it — telling a story, walking through a memory, looking them in the eye on something hard.

Audio

Best for: most things. Audio is honest without being performative. Your voice carries everything that matters.

Use audio when you want to talk like you're on the phone with them — long stories, advice, the kind of thing you'd say in the car.

Text

Best for: lists, instructions, references they'll want to come back to. Recipes. The how-to-handle-a-bad-boss playbook. The card-on-the-wall reminders.

Use text when the words are the point and you want them re-readable.

Mix freely

You can switch types per message. A lot of dads start with text (low stakes), graduate to audio, and use video for the big ones.