My Daughter Was Having Trouble Learning To Speak Until I Discovered This YouTuber
I'm pretty sure this is the best show for toddlers ever.
Hi! I'm Loryn, and like most parents-to-be, I had a lot of ideas about how I would be as a parent. I always thought I'd be a laid-back mom who didn't really worry about "milestones" and all of that, and who would just try to enjoy watching my kid develop at their own pace.
So much to learn!
Well, fast-forward to actual parenthood, and of course, EVERYTHING — including my laid-back ideals — FLEW OUT THE WINDOW. My beautiful newborn baby was having serious feeding issues, which led us to seek the help of a geneticist to get a diagnosis.
Note: the brace on my wrist is from the tendinitis I developed by having to hold the bottle in a very specific way to get her to eat.
She started early intervention quickly after, meaning she began therapy two or three times every day. And when she's not in therapy, I've had to become very familiar with all the various areas I can work on with her to make sure she gets the head start she deserves.
*Here she is working on sitting with her physical therapist, Kerri.
Since then, I have basically become a baby milestone and development expert (yay?), and have to make sure almost everything I'm doing as a mom is benefiting my daughter in some way (especially in her first few years). Which leads me to SCREEN TIME.
At some point during the pandemic – while doing full time work and therapy for my daughter, and, erm, trying to just survive, I realized I was going to need to start letting her watch some screens. So I went down a little rabbit-hole of research.
I decided that my beloved cartoons (which is actually my day job) were out, Sesame Street (which I also worked on and think is great) moved a little too fast, and so on and so on.
But then, in came my discovery of Songs for Littles on YouTube. When I watched the videos, I realized they were exactly like my daughter's speech therapy classes!
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These videos were super engaging, fun, and well done. In them, the star, A REAL PERSON, speaks slowly and clearly, and even includes close ups to show exactly how her mouth is moving. I was thrilled to find some screen time I didn't have to feel guilty about!
Since then, we've been watching Songs for Littles during convenient and helpful times, like during physical therapy, while I'm cooking or very busy, and when my daughter is doing something not-so-fun, like nebulizing herself.
My daughter has started talking way more since watching the channel, and I was so enamored with it, I reached out to the creator, Rachel Arccurso — who is also a preschool music teacher — to ask about the whole production!
Rachel and her husband and creative partner, Aron Arccurso, filming.
"For a long time, I’ve wanted to make free music education videos for little ones who don’t have access to that. Then when the pandemic hit, I saw other needs being unmet due to children being home from school, such as preschool videos and speech practice videos," Rachel tells BuzzFeed.
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I was actually looking for videos like ours for my son, and when I couldn’t find them I realized, “Oh, I have to make them!” she says. "I saw the benefits of music classes and simple songs to my son’s development but I knew these classes can be really expensive! So I figured I’d make some on YouTube for everyone could participate in."
The feedback Songs for Littles has received, Rachel says, has been amazing. "It’s been so incredible and beyond anything we imagined. So many emails from parents have brought me to tears! I can’t think of anything more rewarding than making children smile and helping them grow and learn," she tells BuzzFeed.
And since I had an expert on the line, I asked her what parents could do to keep their own littles growing and learning during this pandemic.
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"With little ones it’s great just to get down on the floor with them on their level and play. They learn best through play!" she tells BuzzFeed. "I put my phone away and get on the floor with my son for small periods of focused time every day. Other times he explores toys on his own, other times I use some educational TV to get some things done. I think balance is key."
Rachel understands, though, that it’s a very challenging time, and some parents need to work full days from home, she says. So her advice to those parents is simple: "Most importantly I’d say to parents, be kind to yourself during this difficult time," she says.
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"The kids will be OK, and if they have too much screen time during this one year, no big deal!" she emphasizes. "Our screen time rules definitely changed during the pandemic. We used to do a lot of fun baby music and gym classes, museums, meet with friends, and right now, that’s just not a safe thing to do."
I hope Songs for Littles is as helpful your toddler as it is for mine!
