A Father’s Voice in Time of War: Megogo and ICTV2 Created a Collection of Fairy Tales for Children

In full-scale war, children remain one of the most vulnerable groups. They not only face direct physical danger, but also live in constant psychological stress – due to the loss of loved ones, forced relocations, the destruction of the usual world and the breakdown of family ties. This is especially acutely felt in those families where the father serves in the army, is in a war zone, or is absent at all due to the war. In this reality, every additional way to keep the child feeling connected, stable and supported takes on special importance.

It is in this context that the new project of the Megogo media service and the ICTV2 TV channel should be considered – the audio collection “Daddy’s Tales” dedicated to the International Father’s Day. The project brought together eight original and adapted stories for children, which were read by Ukrainian TV presenters – the parents themselves. It was created as a response to a real need — to help keep the father’s voice close to the child where his physical presence is temporarily impossible.

Daddy’s Tales is available for free on the Megogo mobile app in the Audio section. The project was conceived as a platform that allows you to create an emotionally safe space for the child before bedtime, on a trip or at home, providing a warm voice of the father – even in his physical absence. The audio format is especially important for those families where the father remains at the front, and the children are in the rear or abroad.

The presenters of ICTV and ICTV2 were involved in the creation of the collection. Each of them voiced one story, and some wrote or adapted their own texts. The collection included:

Oleksandr Bogutskyi with the adaptation of the folk tale “About truth and wrongdoing”;

Vadim Karpyak with a story based on Hutsul folklore – “The Girl and the Enchanted Oak”;

Hryhoriy Herman with the author’s fairy tale “The Tiger and the Noisy Shadow”;

Oleksandr Shvachka – “The Tale of the Unbreakable Dawn”;

Serhii Lykhovyda – “Antonio the hippopotamus and a trip to Antarctica”;

Andrii Kovalskyi – “The Tale of Kva and Kvi, or How Real Power Sounds”;

Petro Demianchuk – “Choice of Light”;

Vyacheslav Tsimbalyuk – “The Tale of the Starry Forest”.

Each story lasts about ten minutes, and their construction specifically takes into account the age of the listeners and the emotional context. During the war, for many children, fairy tales become not only entertainment, but also an important stabilizing factor that helps overcome anxiety, fears and adapt to a changed world. This is especially important in those families where the child does not have the opportunity to see his father every day. When a parent reads or makes up stories himself, this process builds trust, security, and a warm emotional connection. In cases where this is not possible, similar audio content partially fills the void of this contact.

It is also important that the creation of the collection was accompanied by attention to the quality of the texts and sound implementation. The Megogo team has brought in writers, editors, sound engineers and musicians to ensure that each tale has a professional sound, rhythm, tonality and audio design. This makes listening not only meaningful, but also comfortable for children of all ages.

Kateryna Kotvytska, content director of Megogo Books, explained that the platform has long recorded a high demand for quality Ukrainian-language children’s audio content. However, the offer remained limited – especially in the section of audio fairy tales, which the child can listen to independently or together with the family. The creation of “Daddy’s Tales” became the answer to this niche – at the same time emotional, practical and socially sensitive.

The Megogo and ICTV2 project is not just a media initiative for one holiday. It reflects a deeper societal need to create additional supports for children in times of prolonged instability. In post-war Ukraine, similar formats can become an important direction of psychological support for children in difficult life circumstances. When a war lasts for years, it is important to work not only with physical safety, but also with emotional safety, supporting the smallest where family contacts are temporarily severed.

At a time when the war separated many Ukrainian families, and children often live without their parents nearby, such projects help to preserve what is important for a child — the feeling of a father’s presence, his care and warmth, which even in difficult circumstances can be conveyed through words and voice.