Modern Mamma Marvels

I was somewhat excited when we were sent Phonics 4 Babies to review via the Parent Blogger Network. My excitement waned when I saw that we were sent “Babies First Words.” I knew the review would be more difficult because BigBrother is already talking up a storm and, therefore, may not really benefit from the video itself. I was going to have to put aside BigBrother’s reactions (or lack of reactions) and figure out of the video would be worthwhile for a child whose vocabulary was smaller than what the video was looking to teach.

That’s hard to do! My vocabulary is obviously larger than the three hundred words that the video claims to be teaching. While BigBrother doesn’t say all of those particular three hundred words, he’s got a myriad of his own. For example, the video didn’t teach him how to say, “Oh my!” when something goes wrong. (Or any worse variation.) And so, forcing myself to get in my time machine and view it as if BigBrother was a few months younger, I came up with the following conclusion:

It could be useful for some tots. But parents need to stay involved!

If you can imagine me, a grown woman, sitting on my living room floor, attempting to repeat and point as Mallory Lewis (yes, daughter of Lamb Chop’s Sherri Lewis) and her puppet ask me to, you might giggle. I’m sure it was quite a sight! But what I learned during this time was this: Lewis does not leave appropriate pauses in between her questions and the answer. What do I mean? I’m sure you’ve seen Dora, right? You know how she leaves that crazy long pause of silence when she asks a question? And it feels like insanely long for any adult being forced to listen to her repetitive show? But it seems to work for toddlers? Yeah, Lewis barely pauses at all after asking children to repeat words. In fact, after one particular request to repeat, I, a grown adult with rather quick response time, barely got the word out before Lewis was repeating it on her end. She was somewhat better in the pointing recognition game with giving her young viewers time to pick out the item which she was talking about but, again, it wasn’t exactly a toddler type of a pause. Somewhere between an adult and an elementary aged pause. Remember: this video is aimed at teaching words to children without vocabularies. If you go too fast, they’ll lose interest or get frustrated and tune out.

Other than that, I found nothing wrong with the DVD. I enjoyed how Lewis and her bug baby learned about asking politely to get down from the high chair by saying please. (We’re working on saying please at appropriate times right now!) The songs were of a typical toddler variety; somewhat grating but mostly tolerable. The colors were all very bright which did seem to appeal to BigBrother who did watch the first half of the video before deciding he needed to run around in circles for awhile! I can gather from that fact that an even younger child would be greatly intrigued by the selection of bright colors.

Personally, I think if we had been sent the second video (not yet available!), “Colors and Counting“, BigBrother (and I) might have been more interested in the content. (Here’s hoping she pauses a little bit more.) I might be prone to give the series one more chance with that second video, as colors are a subject that we’re currently working on with the Little Man. (Right now? Everything is blue. Unless it is blue and you say, “yes!” Then? He says, “Green!” And if you remember, he’s also boycotting the number seven. Ah, kids!)

And so, what’s my recommendation? This might be a legitimately helpful video for children who don’t already have a large and ever-growing vocabulary. As always, it is not intended for you to simply toss in and leave the room while your kid sits there, especially with the lack of pausing in this video. Your help, as a parent and teacher, will be the catalyst in your child’s vocabulary. If you’re unsure of how to help your child in that area, this video might give you some ideas that you can employ long after you’ve turned off the television for the day. (For example, putting three things together in a group and asking your child to point out the object that you’re calling for and then name it as his vocabulary grows. I think we might work on new words like this for awhile!)

So, will I spend the DVD price for the second video whenever it becomes available? That depends! If BigBrother has mastered colors and counting by that point, probably not. If he hasn’t (and is still boycotting Roethlisberger’s number), then I might very well decide to purchase the video. That’s what parents should be keeping in mind when they decide whether or not to invest in this program for their kids: where those kids are developmentally. Already talking? Skip “Babies First Words” and wait for “Colors and Counting.” (That said, they also have alphabet flash cards coming soon!)

(PS - On the product info page, you can view samples of the songs and segments to help you in your decision making process!)