I Love That DVD! Kids Have Their Own Ideas About What is Great.
Kid’s All-Star values are different than adults. A DVD might not have many All-Star assets that we, adults think are important, and that I outlined in my last blog
(http://www.kidsfirst.org/juror/blog/2008/07/31/
what-makes-an-all-star-2/)
If kids love it and want to watch it over and over, maybe even learned something from it or sang the songs afterwards at dinner, this is an All-Star DVD from your child’s point-of-view. This is especially so for kids who may not be developmentally ready to decide if a DVD has qualities that would improve their life.
Here are some things children might say about a DVD that is an All-Star for them:
“I loved the Bob the Bunny! I wish I could play with him.”
“I want to watch that again! ”
“My favorite part was: ALL of it.”
“Bob was so silly. Remember when he went down the hole with his friends. Remember when…”
Children get excited when they love a DVD. Sometimes they interact with it while it’s on. Other times they can recount specifics: character names, storyline, places. Usually they will ask to watch it over and over, or want to take it with them when they visit a friend. My five-year-old son has a habit of watching all his DVDs quietly. Sometimes he requests to watch them again, but the real test is later that night. At bedtime, he will start to tell me stories about the DVD, remembering parts of it that excited him in extreme detail. One time, two days after we watched a new DVD, he decided to put on a puppet show, re-enacting one of the scenes in his own way.
Do you have an idea for a list of Child Rated All-Star assets? Ask your kids what makes a movie their favorite. If you have kids of different ages, note what assets are the same across the ages and which ones differ. Email your thoughts to me at [email protected] and we can use them to compile this new version from a child’s point of view. (You might expand on this – explaining to them that we are going to create a new All Star asset list for our Kids’ evaluation form.)
