In 1992, Dede Laugesen was immersed in the Boulder drug culture and dancing at the Bustop strip club to pay her way through school at CU’s journalism school.
Wayne Laugesen was a hard-drinking editor at a Washington D.C. magazine, one of his first jobs in a career that would lead him to the Boulder Planet, and the Boulder Weekly, two notoriously left-wing papers in an equally liberal town.
Fast forward to 2003, a decade after the two found each other and rediscovered their faith in the Catholic Church, and their lives, and careers, couldn’t be more different.
They’re raising four sons. And they’ve set aside the grind of daily journalism to craft computer animated videos teaching young children the value of prayer.
“I can’t emphasize how much prayer pulled her out of that situation she was in, and pulled me out of a decadent lifestyle as well,” says Wayne, 39, who was an editor and columnist for the Boulder Weekly for three years, before resigning in February.
On Aug. 15, the Laugesens’ new company, The Rosary Project, began shipping “Holy Baby — Seven Prayers in Seven Languages,” the first installment in a series of educational videos for Catholic babies and toddlers. The couple likens them to the “Baby Einstein” educational videos, or the faith-based “Veggie Tales,” cartoons that have sold more than 20 million videos since they were conceived in 1993.
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10 comments
I have the Holy Baby DVD. My kids absolutely LOVE it! It is really good for kids about 6 and under. Over 6 would find it boring.
I suggest that Catholics with young children should buy this DVD. My wife and I give it 2 thumbs up. We are going to buy another copy for our God children.
My children (ages 1 and 3) received this as a Christmas gift, and I must admit that they, too, absolutely love it. I have been resisting this genre of programming for very young children, seeing it as little more than a way to passify them. This program, however, does not concern me the way some of the others do because it’s full of prayer. At the very least, if my kids get nothing else out of it, they are subjected to 30 minutes of traditional Catholic prayer every time I play it.
The so-called “Baby Scholastica” is adorable! Does anyone know if the people who did this video offer a doll of the character?
The Spirit, the Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis, has a story about Holy Baby! and Baby Scholastica in the current edition. If you want to see it, just Google to “The Spirit Catholic newspaper.”
My baby was absolutely unconsolable and we had tried everything including the rocking chair, pacifier, and mom and dad sing. We put on Holy Baby and she calmed instantly when the Holy Baby them began to play and remained calm for about 20 minutes, at which point she fell asleep watching it. We’re pretty much hooked now and we hope it’s more than just a baby sedative.
Holy Baby was on EWTN April 5 and my grandchildren (ages 2 and 3) loved it. The older one keeps singing “holy baby, holy baby.” I’ve ordered it because I’m hoping it will help both of them learn the sign of the cross. — Mary, Brooklyn
I bought the Holy Baby! DVD for my daughters and I was sorry I spent the money. They love the video, but small children will love anything with sights and sounds. What I was not happy with was the irreverence of it all – here we are teaching children to learn how to say prayers while showing them images of rubber duckies, stuffed snakes, prancing ponies and spinning fish. Granted, there are a few religious items shown, but not nearly enough. Children correlate what they hear with what they see. If I consistently say “spoon” and show my children a fork, they are going to get a bit messed up mentally. So why are we giving them the words to the Apostles Creed “he was crucified, died and was buried” while showing them images of happy faced gears spinning around and a spinning smiley faced sun? I expected a TOTALLY CATHOLIC video for my daughters. I wanted them to learn the prayers and see images of votive candles and churches and tabernacles. I don’t want them visualizing hitting balls through a maze every time they pray “O my Jesus.” They would be just as captivated if not more so watching images of holy things – and then when we’re off to Mass on Sundays it would be even neater if they’d recognize some of the things they saw. But that’s a project for someone else to do. Holy Baby failed, in my opinion. I won’t show it to my kids again or recommend it to anyone.
one comment only for this one: wishy-washy-feel-good-fluff.
kate – three thumbs up on your intelligent review.
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Dear Sir:
Today 11/11/05 @ 5 p.m. EWTN was talking about “Baby Jesus 2”. Telling us to call them or go online to receive this DVD. I would very much appreciate having this DVD & will gladly pay for it, but i was in my car and could not write your phone number. is there anyway i can obtain this for my grandson??? thank you so much for your radio station.
God bless you all; especially Mother Angelica.
Gay Rayburn
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Clute, TX. 77531
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