"The idea was simple, create children's characters who
educate, empower and entertain; preferably all three at the same time!"
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When the Dream Dragon was originally born from the head of a 17 year old kid, there was very little thought put into the character. At the time, it was just a fun poem to get the necessary assignments in for that day. Then, nearly 20 years later, I decided to try to turn that old poem into something amazing. It was then that I came up with the concept of the Dream Dragon and the 3 E's. The idea was simple, create children's characters who can educate, empower and entertain, preferably all three at the same time! While the idea was simple enough, making it a reality was a whole other story! Most children's characters today are primarily focused on only the entertainment side of things, which makes sense business wise. Give them what they want, not necessarily what they need. But how long can that kind of thinking last, until irreparable damage is done? Are we willing to stand by and find out? I'm not! I am committed to making the Dream Dragon and all of the other characters in the Dreamland universe lovable characters who will provide at least two of the 3 E's at all times. Our show, our products, our characters will not just be for entertainment...they will always try to teach a lesson, instill a value or provide useful advice and, of course, to entertain them while doing it!
​"It's a BIG deal when a child learns something new and we adults can't forget that!"
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Look What I Know stories. When you are a child learning is an amazing thing. So inquisitive. So many questions. So open to new information. And once they learn something new, they are beaming with pride, which is why the name "Look What I Know" was selected for this part of the series. It's a BIG deal when a child learns something new and we can't forget that! Because we seldom learn new things as adults, it is very easy to forget just what a big deal learning really is, but it's important that we do not forget and that we actually celebrate when our children learn new things. By introducing the Dream Dragon Look What I Know stories to your children, they will begin to associate the character with greater comprehension and learning, which will, in turn, boost self confidence and self worth. It will also help establish the Dream Dragon as a trustworthy character, whose message is intended to help children. It is this trust which will become the foundation of the relationship between the Dream Dragon and the child. Just like any relationship, it will take time for the trust to build, but after a while, children will know that the message of the Dream Dragon is always positive and helpful. This understanding will become appreciation, which will allow the Dream Dragon to more easily help when the time comes to be introduced to the more serious empowerment topics of the series.
​​"Empowerment is an important topic, especially when it comes to our kids!"
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Lessons To Learn From stories. Empowerment is an extremely important topic, especially when it comes to our kids! As adults we have learned how vital being empowered is in order to overcome obstacles, tackle difficult situations in life and even becoming a good person and a productive, contributing member of society. But today children are faced with so many more challenges than most parents or grandparents were faced with when they were growing up. This is why empowering our kids is so important. Because kids seem so much more advanced and mature at earlier and earlier ages, it is easy to forget that their little minds are still developing and that they still need our help and guidance, even if they don't think they do! Examples set by parents and the influential adults in their life have a huge impact on the development of a child, so it is important to not only discuss and instill lessons to empower the children, but for the adults to take their own advice and live their own empowered life. If a parent or an adult who is often around children is struggling with self confidence issues or allows fear of change or other personal issues to hold them back, then that is what the children are seeing and what they are learning. Children learn what they live, which is why it is important to always keep that in mind. If you want your child to become a self confident, self assured adult, then they will need to see those traits from the people who influence them the most. The Dream Dragon: Lessons To Learn From stories cover topics which may be difficult to discuss, but the stories are easy to read and understand, which will make starting these somewhat difficult conversations much easier for parents. The stories also provide a jumping off point for parents to bring up sensitive topics, like inappropriate touching.
"Too many companies are fine with pumping out shallow, meaningless content, with the sole purpose of making money, not providing substance or any type of lesson."
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Tuck 'em in Bedtime Stories and more. Let's be honest, it's 2021 and children have become big business for a lot of companies. While it may seem that children are more refined than the same aged kids from the past, the truth is they are just exposed to more things at a much faster pace than previous generations. As a result, there is a major lack of quality content, in both literature and programming. Too many companies are fine with pumping out shallow, meaningless content, with the sole purpose of making money, not providing substance or any type of lesson. Just pure entertainment, often NOTHING more than digital babysitters. While things for purely entertainment purposes are fine, there should be a line drawn when it comes to content for our children. We realize that for a child to grow to appreciate a children's character, they will need to be entertained by them, so making sure your child is entertained by the Dream Dragon and the rest of the characters in the Dreamland universe is very important to us. But making sure they are entertained, while also learning and growing, is even more important to us! The Tuck 'em in Bedtime Stories were created to focus more on the entertainment side, but while still maintaining our commitment to quality content. The stories are usually journeys through Dreamland with the Dream Dragon, but we have also used this part of the series to address topics like dealing with nightmares. In the story Protector of Dreamland, children discover basic dream control techniques which will allow them to stop a nightmare and put their dream in a more happy direction. Gerald's daughter, Khailey, had very bad nightmares when she was little. She was actually the inspiration for the Protector of Dreamland story. After the verse was written, Gerald would read it to her every night before she went to sleep. The story did not even have any pictures with it, so it was nothing but the words and what they meant and suggested. The story explained that when a nightmare starts all the dreamer has to do is say "I'm scared", which allows the mind to realize that it is a dream and respond with the Dream Dragon appearing to fend off any scary thoughts. After less than two weeks of reading the story verse to her every night, her nightmares stopped and she was able to sleep soundly from that point on!