Hello Wonder Tales: Fun Anecdotes from Co-Founder Seth Raphael

Hello again, and welcome back to the world of Hello Wonder! I'm Desiree, the mom blogger, back with another interview. Somehow, between creating a start-up company that is taking the children’s online entertainment and AI communities by storm, raising five beautiful children, and occasionally enjoying a cup of hot coffee, Co-Founder Seth Raphael found the time to answer a few questions about the lighter, more fun side of Hello Wonder. 

What feedback about Hello Wonder have you gotten from parents and educators? 

Seth found that parents continue to enjoy Hello Wonder's ability to reach out to the children, discover their interests, and suggest content that encourages their curiosity in a way that isn’t done in real life. They also love being able to shape content that their kids enjoy with their own family values. 

Parents increasingly find themselves busy, and unable to entertain their children. They give children electronics and often feel that they have no idea what their kids are up to, and there are no tools to see what they are doing. Hello Wonder has thankfully changed that.

They’ve gone beyond basic, one-size-fits-all blocking apps that prevent kids from accessing bad content to providing content that each family has specifically requested and allowed with their family values in mind. 

What’s an unexpected way a child has used Wonder to learn something? 

This was an easy story for Seth to tell. It was funny and showed how Hello Wonder can help kids in ways we hadn’t intended. 

“One of my young children asked, Wonder, where do boogers come from? And that led to a large explanation of how our immune system attacks and gets rid of things like bacteria and virus and actually improved my kids' hand washing. So that was a fun opportunity where, you know, hey, where do boogers come from? And, hey, now my kid is washing their hands just a little bit better.”

If Hello Wonder could have one superpower, what would it be? 

This was a fun question, and Seth lit up when asked. He believes that Hello Wonder already has many superpowers. It can watch and interact with children endlessly, search every video on the internet, and provide children with exactly what they want. Hello Wonder can also “connect kids with family members around the globe.” 

What funny situations have children had with Hello Wonder that highlight the unique challenges of developing educational AI? 

Creating AI has many challenges, but humorous moments can be found in the process. Seth recounted a funny story about his daughter and her Christmas wish list. 

“My 5-year-old daughter, who was five at the time, asked, Wonder, why didn't Santa bring me a remote control car? Wonder didn't have the information to answer that, didn't know how I would want to answer that and said, I'm not certain, but let's look up how to make a remote control car. It ended up finding a video for her that was slightly out of her ability range, but showed how she could make a remote control car. And so it took her from this question of, you know, why didn't I get this thing that I want, to a mindset of, hey. I want this thing. I can build it. And that's the kind of magic sleight of hand that is really amazing to see Wonder perform.”

If Wonder the axolotl had to survive a day in a children’s book, which book would it be? 

According to Seth, the perfect book for Wonder to live in would be A Very Special House by Ruth Krauss. The book is about a kid and his imagination, and all the animals he has living there with him. He loved the idea of Wonder being comfy and cozy in that house. 

The best part of the book for Seth was the encouragement of imaginary play and the creation of imaginary worlds. Much like Hello Wonder, it encourages kids to really use their imagination, but still allows them to connect their imagination to the larger world.

If you could integrate any fictional character into Hello Wonder, who would it be?

When I asked Seth this question, I admit I was a bit surprised at his answer—not at the character he chose but at the reasoning behind his choice. He felt that the character he most closely associated with Wonder was Mary Poppins, a character many parents have seen. 

At first glance, it seemed that Mary Poppins’ role was to take the children on adventures and teach them how to take care of themselves and the house, and that’s what Seth would like the role of Wonder to be: “help kids discover the vastness of the world while helping them learn the family's values and important lessons along the way.” 

However, Seth pointed out that there was another part to Mary Poppins's story. The true goal of her story was to help the dad become a better dad. In the story's beginning, the dad is very short with the children and has no time or patience for them. 

By the end of the story, the dad drops everything and goes to fly a kite with them. That is Seth’s hope for Wonder in the future, and what Wonder could do for people, the gap that it could bridge for parents and kids. “That's what I think Wonder's true potential is, is to help parents connect with their kids, help them go fly a kite together.”

What unexpected feature do you dream of adding to Hello Wonder? 

Hello Wonder will always have limitations and be constrained by what its human creators can envision. One feature that Seth often mentioned in this interview was the ability of Hello Wonder to follow the kids and their journey in the “real world.” 

He would love for Wonder to be able to cross over into the physical world and participate in activities that just can’t be replicated in the digital world, like sending postcards in the mail or going out and doing activities. 

Let’s have fun!

Hello Wonder is a new and exciting tool for kids to interact with. It’s also about having fun! Seth’s colorful imagination was a key part of the creation of this app, and it shows in the fantastic answers he shared in this interview. Get your kids excited about learning and having fun with Hello Wonder. Visit us on our website, or check out the app store today.