I recently received a Paws and Tales DVD titled Putting Others First.
I was really excited to sit down and watch it with my daughter. Even though she's 1. She didn't do too much watching.
This DVD gives 2 short episodes about putting others first.
In the 1st episode, the main characters come across a stranded skunk who's wagon lost a wheel and tipped over. They were on their way to a school bake sale and wanted to get there before all the cake was gone, so they left him there to fend for himself, telling him they would send help. When they got to the bake sale, the cake was already gone and they never sent the help to the stranded skunk. Later, their grandfather (I think) finds out about it and sets them up on an errand. They must run to the school, stop by a customer, run to the store, and get to the lumber mill all within an hour. While at each place, the animals there have them do something for them, too. They get to the saw mill with 15 minutes to spare (they sure are a lot quicker than I would be!) after running into some trouble and having a little help themselves and run into the skunk again! He's had some more misfortune and the bears decide to help him this time and run late for the mill. When they get home and tell their pa that they helped the skunk but didn't get the wood, he tells them that he set them up and was proud that they put his skunk friend first this time.
In the 2nd episode, the main character finds out his dad is going to be employed by the towns wealthiest bear and his daughter has it out for all of the employees whose children she doesn't like. He decides to do as she wishes to save his father's job since all of his friends' parents have lost their jobs because she was upset with her schoolmates. She tries to get his dad fired after he refuses to carry her books to school but soon finds out that his dad is now the HR manager for her father's employees. He's rehired all of the other employees that lost their jobs and changes things at the hotel (her father's business). Then, he tells his son how much he appreciates that he would put him first.
In the first episode, I really liked the story and I liked the way that the episode linked to the Good Samaritan from Scripture. I found the story line suitable for children and something that they could relate to.
In the second episode, the father discusses blackmail with his son and I thought it a little inappropriate. I'm not sure that kids would "get it". I think they could have done a little bit better with the story line. Otherwise, I found the characters to be very relatable.
I thought the picture was a little jumpy, but I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that this is no VeggieTales production and that these film makers are on a limited budget. I enjoyed the extras included in the video, like the introductions and the sing-alongs.
All in all, I would recommend this DVD to a parent who has children in the 4-9 range that want to teach them about putting others ahead of ourselves.
I received this book free from Tyndale for review. I was not paid to review this book. The above photo of the book cover is taken from Amazon.com.
