After 30 straight days of NaBloPoMo and now the holiday season, I am sure that you are thinking, “I wish Jenny would tell me about some products she loves so that I can go buy them”. Well, you are in luck. Here is one for you.
When I went to BlogHer this year, I was given a copy of Ruby’s Studio “The Feelings Show” DVD. Ruby is a [very heavily made-up] babysitter-like character who appears to run an art studio for kids. She has magical powers to sprinkle sparkly dust that generate animations illustrating whatever topic she’s discussing with the kids. Since there’s only one Ruby’s Studio DVD so far, the only topic is Feelings.
Receiving this DVD in August was actually pretty good timing since Little Sir was really frustrated for quite a while when he was learning to talk. He had a lot of feelings that he could not express, apparently. He yelled a lot and threw tantrums. Oh wait, he still does that…
Do I think this DVD helped him identify his feelings? Maybe. He did go around saying “happy!” and “sad!” and “mad!” shortly after watching this DVD off and on for about a week. He can identify expressions on characters and on his sister as happy, sad, or mad. In that way, I do think that it helped. And he does pay attention to the show. It doesn’t move too fast but it does keep him interested. It’s a nice, calm pace.
It hasn’t necessarily helped him manage his feelings, but that isn’t something I’d expect a DVD to do anyway. That’s probably more of a maturity thing. We do practice trying to take deep breaths when he is mad, but it doesn’t always work. I think the point is that the DVD is helping to remind him to identify his feelings. Some day he will be able to apply that knowledge and learn to manage them.
The message is distinctly non-religious, so if you are of a particular belief system you might want to talk with your child yourself about aspects of feelings as they apply to your faith. I am not worried about it being religion-neutral because I believe it’s my job to talk to my kids about faith and not the job of a DVD.
Overall, I have enjoyed this DVD and would not mind seeing more episodes of this show. The only criticism I have heard is when Christian remarked that Ruby wears a ton of makeup. Definitely true, but I realize that the goal is to make Ruby a kind of caricature of a person, like a magical realistic cartoon, so she isn’t supposed to be real-looking. Also, I am sure they are creating a persona that can be recreated with makeup and costume on any actress so they aren’t restricted to the one actress that they used for The Feelings Show.
Ruby’s Studio is produced and managed by The Mother Company, a female-owned small business.
If you are looking for a positive DVD to put in your toddler or preschooler’s stocking for this Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus, I would recommend Ruby’s Studio “The Feelings Show”!
NOTE: I received a free copy of Ruby’s Studio “The Feelings Show” at BlogHer with the hopes that I would review it, which I have. The Amazon link is an affiliate link which gives me like 2 cents if you buy the DVD. All opinions are my own. If I would have hated it, I definitely would have told you because I like to mock things.