Bottom Line: Luca Lashes returns again, this time to visit his mother in the hospital. This app gently walks a reader through a trip to the hospital and serves as a starting point for preparing a child to deal with a new situation.
If you would like to purchase Luca Lashes Visits Mommy in the Hospital ($1.99, iPad/iPhone), please use the handy link below so they’ll know who sent you:
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No ads, no in-app purchases, external links to developer’s site from within the menu section (not protected)
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Luca Lashes Visits Mommy in the Hospital is the eighth app in a series of apps and enhanced digital books by developer Luca Lashes, LLC in conjunction with FlyingWord. Each book is designed to help introduce a child to a new and possibly scary situation and to help them cope with new experiences.
Our story starts with meeting Mommy, who is already in the hospital. Luca and his daddy are coming to visit, and Luca is scared. Before Luca and his daddy go into Mommy’s room, Luca does his trusty trick of blinking two times. When Luca blinks twice, he can try anything new.
Luca finds that things in Mommy’s room aren’t as scary as he had expected. He is able to give her a card he made and to meet the nurse who is helping her. Luca and his daddy give Mommy big hugs before leaving her, and Luca’s daddy assures him that Mommy will be home soon.
The entire adventure is presented in rhyming couplets. I understand the reasoning here — that the rhyming might make the scary hospital situation as non-threatening as possible. But I found that many of the rhymes were awkward and forced, and I’m not sure the app would have been any less effective if it were not written in verse form.
The app is available in Chinese, English, French, Italian and Spanish. The font sizes can be changed.
I think this book can be a helpful tool to introduce the concept of visiting somebody in the hospital to a child, but it certainly should not be the totality of preparation for the situation. If used only as a conversation starter, parents can expand on the information and customize it to their child’s level of understanding and their particular circumstances.
What I like:
- The parents' section at the back of each book has some excellent suggestions for the first time a child visits a parent or loved one in the hospital. I would have preferred if there were a few more tips about actually helping deal with a child’s qualms, but the technical tips are quite helpful.
- The artwork is really lovely. Luca’s expressions really shine through.
- I appreciate the idea behind this book (and the whole series) as a way to help a young child deal with a new or stressful situation. Parents can use these short stories as a starting point for really meaningful talks about new experiences.
What I would change:
- It might just be a personal preference, but I feel like describing a parent’s illness or injury (particularly one that requires hospitalization) as an “owie” not only over-simplifies the issue, but it also could create extra worry for a child by making them wonder if they will have to go to the hospital each time they get an “owie.” This would apply for any generalized term that you might use with your child . . . boo-boo, ouchie, bump, scrape, etc. I believe that if you are as honest as possible with a child without being overly graphic, they are capable of comprehending so much more than we give them credit for. If a child is young enough that these terms seem appropriate for the situation, it might be that they are not old enough to really understand a hospital visit and that other options such as FaceTime or Skype might be a better solution.
- This was the first Luca Lashes app I've tried. I found it necessary to go back and download the free intro book, Luca Lashes the Brown Eyed Boy, to really understand who Luca is and why his eyelashes are supposed to be magic. Maybe there should be an “about Luca” page available within the app that covers the same information. Barring that, I do recommend that first-time Luca readers download Luca Lashes the Brown Eyed Boy for free here.
- I would definitely add a “read to myself” option. The pace in the read-to-me is a little bit too fast to allow a parent and child to discuss what is going on or to be able to use the interactive features. The App Store description states that this option exists, but the only way I could make it happen was to just hit “pause” on each page. If this is how they intend for it to work, it would perhaps be more clear to just have “read-to-myself” or “read-to-me” as an option when starting the app.
- I would also have preferred if the book didn’t automatically advance to the next page in the read-to-me mode. It just advanced a little too quickly for my taste and didn’t leave any time for discussion.
As it stands now, there are still a few too many weaknesses to bump the rating any higher than a 3.5 stars, but this app could still definitely be worth a look if your child is facing a situation like this.
*****
Kelli plans to spend half of her day tomorrow on the back of a horse. The other half may be spent soaking in a warm bath to relieve the soreness that is bound to ensue. SmartAppsForKids.com was paid a priority review fee to complete this review in an expedited manner.
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