Resilience, Why?

Did you know that resilience is a significant protective factor for mental health? 

Resilience is our response to any challenge, good, bad, big, or small. The great part of that is that we have the opportunity to use even the smallest challenges to help our children build resilience. One of the first songs we released, Glo’s Challenge: Resilience (Spotify link), reminds us that even though it can be difficult to try new things, it is essential for building resilience.

The main job of our brain is to survive. As a result, we are wired to be afraid of new things. However, it is only by facing those challenges and handling them that we gain the confidence to tackle larger ones.

Glo represents the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for detecting threats. When she sees a threat, her job is to get us ready for fight, flight, or freeze. In the song, Glo describes how it feels for our children when they face a challenge or try something new. It is scary. 

Danni represents the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps override that response when we don’t need to go into fight-flight-or freeze. In Danni Dragonfly, Danni represents the role of a parent or caregiver.  In the song, Danni reassures Glo that she can do it. Often, that is the most important thing we can do as parents – reassure our children that they have the skills they need to take on this new task and support them from the side.

Danni Helps (Spotify link) describes one of the most challenging things we can do as parents: letting our children struggle. As parents, we want to protect our children. It is hard to watch them get frustrated, particularly when we know we can help ease that frustration so easily. It doesn’t feel good to watch them having a hard time. However, it is only through that struggle that they can learn, grow, and feel that sense of achievement. 

As Danni knows, “Self-Esteem is not a gift that we can give, but it’s something that we earn through the challenges we live.”

Prioritizing Values-Driven Content

“The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.”
~ Edward O. Wilson

The human brain evolved during a very different time in the world. For a significant portion of that development, we lived in small, tight-knit communities, protecting each other from predators like the saber-toothed tiger. The world has changed. But our brains still respond in many of the same ways.

To understand how to use our “godlike technology” in a mindful way, we must first comprehend our “Paleolithic” brains. Media and social media companies have realized the power of understanding neuroscience. They know that by triggering the limbic system, they can capture our attention–and that attention translates to financial gain.

We consider the Danni Dragonfly an opportunity to level the playing field. We believe that everyone needs to understand neuroscience, and we know it can be presented in a fun and accessible way.

This project is committed to these fundamental values for all of our content:

1. Human Made: We commit to ensuring that all content is created by real humans who are experts in their respective fields. They will use software and other technology as tools to support their creative process (not replace it!). Our belief is that creative humans (e.g. animators, writers, musicians, actors, editors) are the key to making unique high quality educational content.

2. Developmentally Appropriate Content: We commit to developing content that is beneficial to young children’s brains. Developmentally appropriate content promotes each child’s optimal development and learning through a play-based approach to joyful, engaged learning. All of our content is also vetted with input from early childhood education specialists.

3. Caregiver & Educator Support: We are committed to supporting parents, caregivers and early childhood educators by providing information on best practices to develop resilience, mindful decision-making and positive mental health in their children.

We hope you’ll join us on our journey to create healthier kids and a healthier society!

Welcome!

Hello, Hello, It’s the Danni Dragonfly Blog!

This blog allows us to share a bit more about the “behind the scenes” aspects of the YouTube channel. In particular, it provides us with the opportunity to engage with educators, families, and caregivers who wish to learn more and understand how to utilize the songs, videos, and puppets to help build resilience and foster mental health in their children.

Early animation test for Glo

This project has definitely been a labor of love, fifteen years in the making. Back in 2009, I became interested in understanding how to build resilience in children. My quest led me to reading a lot about neuroscience. The more I read, the more I realized that there is a lot of information from the field that is extremely useful, but it was not accessible to most people because the information was so dense. As an educator, I decided to take on the task of translating the brain science in a way that even young children could understand. That is how I created The Resilient Mindset Model. I spent several years speaking about the model, sharing it with anyone who would listen. I felt a bit like Chicken Little, telling people that if we did not start teaching people about their brains, we would be facing a significant mental health crisis.

Meeting Jason in 2019 was a game-changer. He recognized that no matter how valuable the model was, I needed a scalable product. We launched Pathways to Empower in January 2020, becoming one of the first content creators focused on mental health literacy. In the past five years, we have published workbooks for students K-College through Kendall Hunt Publishing as well as online video content for families and educators. (Additionally, we launched and grew The Mental Health Literacy Collaborative into a nationwide non-profit, along with Annie Slease).

But through all of the years, the project that has always been on my mind has been musical/animated/puppetry content geared toward preschool children and their families. I have always wanted to see the characters come to life. And in the past few months, everything has come together in a way that I could never have dreamed of.

Voice acting in the studio

We have a dream team of voice actors, musicians, writers, animators, and funders/advisors. Every time we turn around, the person we need is there, excited to join us on the journey. Much of what we have accomplished over the last fifteen years has laid the foundation for Danni. For me, it feels like we are at the top of the roller-coaster. It has been a long trek up, but here comes the ride.

I hope you will join us.

~Donna Volpitta