Dreamcatchers/Patches the Bear Review & Giveaway

Winners:

I hope you realize that even though we immensely enjoy doing product reviews and giveaways there are many issues children face that we can not just ignore.

That being said I am going to combine a review/giveaway with some important issues parents need to be aware of.  I will start with a wonderful lady named Kathylee who has opened her heart to the most youngest of victims: children.   A little about Kathylee and her invention Patches the Bear:

My name is Kathylee Forrester and I have been a Children’s Advocate for almost 20 years. It is my belief that early communication with our children and a continuum of that communication through their childhood helps them to understand their emotions and feelings which are so important to their growth and their journey to becoming an emotionally healthy adult.

“Living Light Kids and Patches the Bear are dedicated to advocating for children, guiding them to find their voice. With the help of Patches and the eight expressive emotion face symbols, children can learn to name, understand and appropriately express the emotions he/she is feeling.   During childhood, children begin to develop communication skills, and it is imperative that the adults in a child’s life encourage healthy communication. This enables children to learn, form relationships, build their sense of worth, develop coping skills and express their feelings, all of which empower them to endure challenges, through life’s journey of happy times and painful moments.”

Who is Patches the Bear?   While being warm and cuddly, Patches is not meant to sit on a shelf and look sweet.  This amazing bear with his soulful eyes allows for children to express their feelings by using eight expressive emotion face symbols found on a plastic key ring.  Basically you show the child the emotions and allow the child to pick the emotion he/she is feeling.  Some children find it easier to show an expression of an emotion than to verbalize the emotion.  Many time children will wait until you have left the room and when you come back they have placed their emotion on the front of the bear’s overalls.

Patches is being used in a wide variety of settings.    All children including those in healthy or poor health, neglected – both emotionally and physically, sexually abused, traumatized by catastrophic events or bereavement, disabled and or learning disabled children, and those having to cope with deployment need to communicate and express their feelings can use Patches. I have used Patches with my healthy, happy 3 yr old when he just doesn’t want to use words with astounding success.

Kathylee has recently launched the “Pennies For  Patches” campaign to help the children of our military. While this “War thing” causes many unpleasant conversations and uncomfortable moments, the resilience of  some of these children is just amazing. In the last two years, she has sent Patches to children who have lost a Mom or Dad to this War. There  are those children enduring the trials of a soldier, Daddy or Mommy with PTSD, with anger issues and divorce rising. Or perhaps Mom or Dad is a wounded warrior who doesn’t look like Mommy or Daddy anymore. Then there are the multiple deployments, where they say good bye and live in fear everyday that Mom or Dad may not return. While many are showing the signs of the stress on their emotional health, some are amazing in their resilience. In fact they are truly inspiring. And for the most part they are under the age of six.

Today Angela, director of MommyPR, has personal experience with Patches from a military deployment perspective.  Here are her thoughts in her words:

When daddy leaves in our family..not only is it pretty often, but its a time when the girls look towards something that has some meaning or significance of daddy. This deployment the wonderful designer of Patches sent us 2 of these adorable bears. I kept them up until daddy was leaving. Now before I get to that, let me rewind a bit to the “talk” and you can see how Patches helps in the end….

We have 2 daughters ages 6 and 2. Now the 2yr old does not understand, she just thinks daddy is leaving and can not understand why she cant go. She is VERY attached to her daddy. Our 6yr old on the other hand..she understands where he’s going , not necessarily the why. But during the talk she said she wanted to go where daddy was going..I said you want to go to Iraq? She said no. I said you want to go to Afghanistan? She said no again. I said well where do you think he is going? She said where the camels are and those “periods” (Pyramids). So I said oh is that where he’s going? She answered..yes to look for all the diamonds for us.

Now, he wasn’t going to Egypt any time soon, but to a child..her hero had a greater job of finding diamonds to bring home for her. This to me shows that through the bad images of where daddy is going, comes hope.

We presented Patches (Daddy’s gift to the girls) the day before he left. Ariel is a stuffed animal lover, so for her (the 2 yr old) this was an awesome present..although she wanted his clothes off (lol). She of course is too young to understand the concept of the tags, but none the less..it was the cutest bear from daddy. By the way..she can’t say Patches..and it sounds like “scratches” It is honestly too cute.

Jasmyne (our 6yr old) loved Patches as well. She can read the tags and she understood the meanings. I kid you not here is what she said.. So when you go away I can put this one on his bracelet? (showing the sad tag). We said yes. But then she had to add some thing funny…And when I can’t have a Popsicle I can show this one? (showing the frustrated face) {LOL!!} Well she definitely understood the concept lol.

My view on Patches The Bear?

I can see why Kathylee wants this bear to be more about the meaning of him, then selling him out to a major store where he would essentially become just another stuffed toy. Patches not only is the cutest bear ever (just look at those eyes), he has meaning. He can be the one thing a child holds a memory to. If you know a child with a past that is not so grand (abuse, neglect,etc) this is the perfect “Someone cares” bear. For military families, I can whole heartedly say, Patches is the bear for your deployments, losses, or injuries of a dad or mom.

Patches gives a voice to those children who can’t seem to share their feelings, or for those who feel that their voice is not heard or cared about.

I fully recommend Patches.

~Angela

Bottom line is that we all need to remember that military families who do not live on bases feel isolated.   Just imagine if your significant other was deployed and you were taking care of the children by yourself how you would feel.  I can’t emphasize enough how everyone, adults and children alike, need to be careful of what they say regarding our brave soldiers.  You never know, a child or family member could be standing within earshot and take what you say to heart.  Anger issues in children of deployed soldiers are rising at alarming rates and these wonderful families need a support system.

Another great organization that Kathylee has sponsored is DREAMCATCHERS for abused children whose mission is to work towards the ultimate elimination of child abuse and neglect by educating the public on child abuse awareness and prevention.   Their goal is to educate the public on signs/symptoms on an abused child, statistics, intervention, prevention and assisting victims and survivors in locating the proper resources for a full recovery from child abuse and neglect.

Kathylee has graciously offered to donate 3 of her Patches Bears to our MommyPR audience.  We are going to do things a little differently this time around.  Instead of entering for yourself, I would like you to nominate a deserving military family or a family dealing with child abuse/neglect.  Please no names just a reason why the family would benefit from having the Patches Bear in their life.

Win It

Mandatory Entry:

Visit Patches Kids and tell me one other fact  that I have not mentioned in this review.

AND

Instead of entering for yourself, I would like you to nominate a deserving military family or a family dealing with child abuse/neglect.  Please no names just a reason why the family would benefit from having the Patches Bear in their life.

Open to US residents only

Contest ends 11:59 pm Pacific Time on 8/6

See Contest Rules for More Entries

There you have it – lot’s of ways to enter so please help us get the word out and good luck!!!!

{Donations are not part of any entry. You will not gain extra entries, and they do not help your chances of winning. These buttons are solely to help you become aware of how you can help these 2 wonderful organizations}

Donate To Dreamcatchers

Donate To Patches