Project: TV Series
Role: Creator, Producer, Narrator
Client: TVNZ
Company: Homegrown Television
The genesis of the series came from a body of research from the Children’s Issues Centre at the University of Otago and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. The Discipline and Guidance of Children: A Summary of Research was published in June 2004. The Government of the day wanted parents to have access to information that came from that comprehensive work to promote positive family discipline practices. The practical outworking of that aim was an initiative called SKIP (Strategies with Kids / Information for Parents) rolled out through the Ministry of Social Development. Having read the resources, I saw an opportunity to bring these messages to life in a television series.
Working with the Ministry of Development I devised a series that provided a vehicle to show their messages of the six things children need to grow up to be happy, capable adults - love and warmth, talking and listening, guidance and understanding, limits and boundaries, consistency and consequences and a structured, secure world. Using family counsellors and child development experts with everyday families, these concepts were naturally showcased.
The series came to the network fully funded. I sourced production funding from Barnardos (New Zealand’s largest children’s charity, providing services for children and families, as well as early childhood education services), Treasures (a nappy/diaper brand), and Sport NZ with support from the Ministry of Development. The series also explored the all-important link between physical movement, brain development and learning in a segment called ‘active movement.’ It showed simple activities to help master particular fundamental motor skills to develop different areas of the brain in readiness for formal learning.
The series was put onto DVD. The second series earned an ‘M’ rather than a ‘G’ rating as it showed a newborn in a delivery suite (!) The ‘active movement’ stories were also put onto DVD for Sport NZ (Sport and Recreation NZ at the time) to utilise with facilitators working with young children.