What is the best way to use the My Daisy DaysTM DVDs?
- Watch Daisy’s adventures with your child.
- Allow your child to describe what they are watching.
- Use the images in the DVDs to teach your child new vocabulary words.
- Teach your child how to spell those new vocabulary words.
- Stop the DVD in order to capture a specific part of the adventure, or to look carefully at a detail.
- Help your child to expand his or her understanding and critical thinking skills by asking them open-ended questions that cannot be answered with yes or no responses.
- Discuss the music that accompanies Daisy’s adventures with your child.
Here is a PDF with more information:
How can the My Daisy DaysTM DVDs improve my child’s literacy?
The four basic components of literacy involve listening, speaking, reading and writing. By interacting with your child as you watch Daisy and following the suggestions above you will strengthen your child’s listening and speaking skills. These early lessons will help build a foundation for your child as they progress to more advanced tasks like reading and writing.
Are there supplementary activities I can do with my child to help reinforce what he or she learned while watching the DVDs?
Yes. Click here to see our activities page.
Q & A with Dr. Gloria Needlman
In a career that dates back more than 55 years, Dr. Gloria Needlman has helped nurture the learning process for many generations of children. And with her husband, Allen, the renowned early-childhood educator has raised some very successful children of her own.
Her son, Dr. Robert Needlman, a developmental pediatrician, is the author of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care (Eighth edition), and is the founder of Reach Out and Read, a literacy program for inner-city pediatric waiting rooms in the United States and abroad.
Following are excerpts of an interview with Gloria Needlman from June 2009, shortly before the launch of the DVD series starring Daisy Mae.
What sparked your involvement with “My Daisy DaysTM“?
Through a mutual friend, (producer and director) Mary Murphy got in touch with me.
One of her top questions was what kind of language should Daisy use. But I really don’t like talking dogs–little children are literal, and dogs don’t talk. We agreed that it would be wonderful to have just music with this, and have the DVDs be a literary experience in which the parent or caretaker would interact with and encourage the child to tell the story.
In other words, don’t set a kid in front of the TV and walk away.
What are some of the most common flaws with children’s programming?
They are too frenetic, bouncy, there’s just too much going on. I know attention spans are short, but one of the things about “My Daisy DaysTM” that is so good is that none of the films are more than 12 minutes long. That’s enough, that’s really enough.
What makes “My Daisy DaysTM” different than other children’s programming?
With other programming, it’s so noisy. We don’t give them any time to think. It’s almost how we program children nowadays–taking them to dance class, then to music class, and so on. There isn’t any time to sit and contemplate your navel.
That’s what is so nice about Daisy, because she moves slowly and doesn’t bombard the child with sounds and images. It can be viewed again and again — there’s just so much that a child can pick up.
What was the idea behind no voices or other sounds, but only music, in “My Daisy DaysTM“?
With this approach, you’re not interfering with what the child thinks Daisy is doing. That is a totally personal experience, and we’re not given that experience often. Too often we don’t let kids know that their ideas are worth being said and are worth being heard.
Do you expect some people will be turned off by the slower pace of “My Daisy DaysTM“?
As with anything that is new, there can be resistance, certainly. But I think we need to expose parents and other caregivers to a different way of looking at what they’re doing with and for children.
“My Daisy DaysTM” helps kids take a little more time to develop through play and to do it peacefully.
You have done quite a bit of work in human rights education. How does “My Daisy DaysTM” fit into that realm?
This could be appealing to any background, anywhere. And I don’t think there’s anything out there that does the same thing.
When Daisy goes to the park or to the zoo, the child might say, “I’ve been to a park, that’s where there are swings.” Or: “That’s where there are all kinds of animals.” And for the child who hasn’t had the experience, Daisy does a great job of exposing a new idea and opens the door to find out more.
What role can “My Daisy DaysTM” play in developing a child’s imagination or creativity?
The literacy component–writing, speaking, listening and reading- is so vital. All of the key elements are in place. You could have a child talk about what’s happening, you could add details to what’s on the screen, or share stories found in books and create a love of reading. It’s a wonderful range of things.
We are excited about helping guide adults in asking open-ended questions, some really good questions that give the child a reason to respond.
Can you give an example of what you mean about open-ended questions?
In “Daisy Counts to 10″ you could certainly do the counting with the child at first and then you could see it again and let the child do it on his or her own. An enthusiastic adult who is enjoying what he or she is seeing produces an enthusiastic environment for the child and hopefully is promoting critical thinking.
How does “My Daisy DaysTM” reflect your personal parenting approach?
I want to help adults focus on all the wonderful learning possibilities in this world without making it preachy or sitting down and doing a lesson. It’s about how to use all the teachable moments.
Also, it’s so important to encourage children that no comments they make in response to the “My Daisy DaysTM” episodes are “wrong.” They may be different, but they are not wrong.
What activities do you recommend surround the viewing of “My Daisy DaysTM“?
I can see wonderful artwork coming out of it, using large and small motor skills. Children can turn an appliance box into Daisy’s house, and then pretend to be Daisy.
None of it is wasted time. All of it is a delight.
How important is it that adult caregivers follow up on the recommended reading lists you have developed?
I certainly encourage them to go through the list and pick out as many of those recommended book as they can. And, of course, they can find other books too. There’s something about holding a book in your hand and learning new things that opens a whole world.
How would you recommend educators use “My Daisy DaysTM“?
In institutional settings, like daycare centers and other teaching environments, it’s perfectly wonderful to leave “My Daisy DaysTM” running off in the corner at some point and let kids who need to relax sit with it. I can see it being a very calming experience.
How would you recommend caregivers use “My Daisy DaysTM“?
Sometimes after an outing and you need to unwind, it would be a lovely time to sit and watch it. Before turning it on, you can ask children, “What do you think is going to happen? What do you think Daisy is going to do?”
Afterwards, you can ask, “Did you think that was going to happen? Is it different than what you thought?” Maybe that caregiver is fluent in another language. What a lovely learning time for the child to work on talking in a different language.
Do you think reality is better for children than animation?
Yes, especially with very little ones. They are very reality-based. Some of the animation that children are exposed to especially, where it’s morphing into different things — that can be scary when you’re very little.
So reality is very good for little children — those who are 2 and 3, some 4-year-olds and even some 5-year-olds. For the very young to be able to watch a little dog, to pretend to be that little dog, that’s very important. The child as the pretender is in control and can carry the experiences on or make them stop.
In an ideal world, adult caregivers would always watch “My Daisy DaysTM” with their children. But for those times when it is not possible, what’s your view of children watching the episodes on their own?
Especially if they have already watched it and they are requesting to see it again, and you can’t, why not? At the same time, I see the episodes as a stepping-off point, a place to open up conversations, to increase vocabulary, to increase interests. There are just so many good, meaningful reasons for using “My Daisy DaysTM“.
The following FAQs are from the Producers:
Is exposure to TV or computer screens harmful for children under 2 years old?
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended “no screen time for infants”, but at the heart of that statement is the AAP’s emphasis on parent-child interaction. “My Daisy DaysTM” likewise promotes such interaction in the child’s remarkable process of learning and exploring.
This is a subject of vital significance. Pediatricians are well-justified and provide a valuable service when they voice adamant opposition to the targeted programming that is so prevalent in the media. Like so many other parents, we take exception when children’s programming is used as a vehicle to inundate toddlers with marketing messages about toys, games, dolls, unhealthy food and other dubious products.
We take pride in having created “My Daisy DaysTM” as a way to foster interaction among children and between children and adult care-givers. Those interactions, as we are encouraging it, can come via talking, singing, reading, listening to music and other forms of playing. For more information on guidelines for watching TV and other topics dedicated to the health of children, visit www.aap.org.
Would “My Daisy DaysTM” fit into a home-schooling curriculum?
Absolutely. Based on ongoing dialogue we have had with home-schooling experts, we are confident that “My Daisy DaysTM” is an excellent complement to educational approaches of any variety of home-schooling associations and families. Consider “My Daisy DaysTM” for example, in the context of the Charlotte Mason Method. This popular educational method of home schooling is characterized, among other things, by children learning via a broad gamut of living books, firsthand experiences and good habits.
Why did you pick the Starlight Foundation as a charity to support?
First, we have an extremely high regard for Starlight’s wonderful work. In addition, “My Daisy DaysTM” is an excellent fit for Starlight’s mission: helping “seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.”
We are pleased to add the “My Daisy DaysTM” DVDs to the entertainment packs that Starlight provides to hospital pediatric wards. And as we grow, we will furnish additional DVDs for outreach programs and pediatric wards in hospitals that are more remotely located.
We are honored and humbled to be able to play a role in helping Starlight brighten the world for children and their families.
Can you tell us more about the Starlight Foundation?
Here is information that the organization has provided for us to share:
“When a child or teenager has a serious medical condition, everyone in the family is affected. The kids, their parents and siblings struggle, in different ways, to grapple with the intrusion of illness or serious injury into their lives.
We understand what families go through when a child is sick, and how important it is for families to find relief from constant worry and isolation. Our entertainment, education and family activity programs have been proven to distract children from their pain, help them better understand and manage their illnesses, and connect families facing similar challenges so that no one feels alone.
We serve children fighting life threatening and chronic illnesses such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, HIV/AIDS, and kidney disease so that they can forget for a few moments about being sick and do what they do best — just be kids. Touching the lives of more than 180,000 children each month, Starlight uniquely offers a comprehensive menu of both “high tech” and “high touch” programs.
Our array of outpatient, hospital-based and Web offerings enables us to provide ongoing support for children and families – before, during and after medical treatment. Research conducted on select Starlight programs indicates patient benefits include reduced pain, greater compliance with treatment, and an increased sense of peer support, knowledge, responsibility for disease management, and ability to cope. The way we see it, while doctors work to restore a child’s health, Starlight works to restore his or her spirit.”
