The estimated reading time for this post is 4 minutes
Your first airplane ride. First visit to the doctor. First haircut. Many of us don’t remember how scary those firsts can be for a child. But when you’re a parent you quickly realize that the milestones you celebrate for your children might be fraught with fear for them.
— what your child hears.
— what you said.
Educators Nicole and Damir Fonovich have developed a series of apps and ebooks called Luca Lashes which aim to help children conquer their fear of firsts by making the unknown seem familiar. These books use animation, sounds, rhyming words and special effects to help teach a child what to expect when encountering new situations. The authors help children see the world through the eyes of Luca and show them how Luca empowers himself to overcome his fears.
Luca Lashes apps and ebooks follow Luca through events such as taking his first trip to the doctor, getting his first haircut, learning to brush his teeth, and having his first swimming lesson. The series also tackles more challenging experiences such as a taking a trip to a nursing home and visiting Mommy in the hospital.
The books are designed for children ages 0-4 and are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French and Italian. You can adjust the font to five different sizes.
Here’s a video about the development of the Luca Lashes books:
The books are interactive, engaging the child through sight, sound and touch. The app reads the story aloud to the child and highlights words as they’re spoken. The pages turn automatically, and a pause button is available to stop the story so the child can linger on a page.
The illustrations are interactive, pressing on objects reveals hidden treasures such as a school bus honking, a light turning on and off and other surprises. Luca Lashes has 75 to 150 interactive opportunities/sound effects embedded into each app.
Parent Resources
Luca Lashes isn’t just for kids. Each book contains resources for parents to help them help their kids navigate the challenges of childhood. The final page of each book offers helpful advice for parents.
Parents can also check out the Luca Lashes YouTube Channel for further guidance. Each book has an accompanying video for parents to learn more about the topic. Videos are available in the same languages as the Luca Lashes books.
Apps and Ebooks
The Luca Lashes series of books is available both as apps and as ebooks. The apps include sound and are interactive and animated. The story is read aloud and the pages turn automatically in the app. You can choose from five different languages within the app so you could also use the apps to teach written and spoken language to an older child.
The series is also available in ebook format without the animation, sound or interactive features. Ebooks can be purchased in each of the five available languages.
Luca Lashes Visits the Doctor
The publisher provided me with the app Luca Lashes Visits the Doctor so I could try out the series. This story is designed to help a child understand what a visit to a doctor involves, including receiving an injection. Luca is scared at first but overcomes his fears by using his “magical powers” with his eyelashes.
The combination of illustrations, interactive features soothing music and a heartwarming story seem to work well in an app designed to engage children and help them understand experiences we adults take for granted.
Availability
The Luca Lashes series is available as both apps and ebooks on many different devices including:
iPhone and iPod Touch
iPad
Android
Kindle
Nook
The series currently contains nine books with 36 books planned for the entire series. The books are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French and Italian. The books currently available as apps and ebooks are:
Luca Lashes: The Brown-Eyed Boy with the Magic Eyelashes
Luca Lashes Learns to Brush His Teeth
Luca Lashes and His First Trip to the Dentist
Luca Lashes and His First Haircut
Luca Lashes has his First Swimming Lesson
Luca Lashes Visits the Doctor
Luca Lashes and the Trip to the Nursing Home
Luca Lashes Visits Mommy in the Hospital
Luca Lashes and His First Airplane Ride
The first book in the series, Luca Lashes The Brown-Eyed Boy with Magical Lashes, is available for free. Visit the Luca Lashes website for links to all of the apps in the series. Apps are $1.99 and ebooks are $2.99.
Final Thoughts
I still remember Mary, the saint/hair stylist at Kids’ Cuts in New Jersey who gave all three of my kids their first haircut. She patiently endured their screams and the screams of hundreds of other kids who were unconvinced at their parents’ reassurance that getting a haircut doesn’t hurt. My girls are well past the age intended for Luca books but I do wish that we had Luca when they were younger to help ease their fears.
My other wish is for a Luca book to help parents overcome their fear of teaching their children to drive a car. Maybe someday?
Do you remember your first haircut? Have you ever tried to help a child overcome a fear of a first time experience? Do you like to use interactive books to teach children? What first experience do you think is most fearful for a child (or parent)? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn,
Awesome post indeed! It reminded me of the first fears my kids had, whether it was their trip to the dentist or their school, they were scared and there was nothing that we as parents can do that time other than try to calm them down.
I wish we had these Luca Lashes series that time, it would certainly have helped kids a great deal. I like the fact that they are so interactive and inviting – made me feel like opening one myself when I saw the video 🙂
However, I do hope that kids just don’t get glued to this and other such apps and forget about the pleasure of reading real books, which I see so less of nowadays with everything coming online – or perhaps we belong to that era when holding a book and reading it had it’s own charm.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, sometimes it’s very difficult for parents to calm a child’s fears about new experiences. Like you, I struggled to calm my children down about new experiences, especially haircuts! No matter how much I told them that it didn’t hurt to get your hair cut, my kids wouldn’t believe me. In a way it makes sense that it should hurt so kids are being logical when they have fear of haircuts.
I too wish I had Luca Lashes to calm my children’s fears when they were younger. You’re right, all things in moderation, but one big advantage of these apps and ebooks is that you can grab them on the go. If you don’t realize your child is afraid until you’re on the way to their first swim lesson, for example, you could download these apps and ebooks as you’re driving there and take a few minutes to read a Luca book before you get in the pool!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and to share this post, Harleena!
Hi Carolyn,
I remember my first hair cuts. I remember all of them because my dad did them. When he refused to do them any more after I had the cheek to have my sister do it as a teenager, it was a great relief! I think kids today find things much easier, especially learning to drive. Hospitals and medical stuff was really scary when I was a kid.
I’ve taken a few photos of people this week, you might have seen them on Facebook. My great niece singing and one of her and her nan. I’m still trying to do something artistic though. I have to find some more of rivers and canals for a competition before the end of the month. I was supposed to review an art gallery today, tehy had a gardn party, but I suspect it was ruined with the rain. It’s the middle of August and we have icy north-west winds and rain! We had a short heat wave last month. I think my lawn grows 3 inches a week!
Hi Mike, My dad used to cut my hair too. I guess my mom was too embarrassed to take me to the hair dresser’s as a kid. I don’t remember my first haircut but I’m thinking it wasn’t pleasant!
Loved the pictures at your blog today, Mike. It was difficult for me to pick my favorite they were all so interesting.
As a child, hospitals really scared me…too bad Luca wasn’t around back then. I like that the creators decided to release apps as well.
Hi Frank, Yes, plenty of adults are scared of hospitals too! But knowing what to expect can help children cope with their fears. I also like how the apps and ebooks offer advice to parents in guiding children to deal with facing these firsts.
The apps are really interactive versions of the ebooks. If you have a mobile device, it probably makes sense to get the apps instead of the ebooks so you can have the added features which kids should enjoy using.
Another masterpiece Carolyn…..It reminds me a lot of things….Basically I was a very brave (read naughty) child in my earlier days (some say that I’m still the same)….Once I helped a kid to demolish his fear from darkness by staying with him in a room and watching a horror movie together…..Luca Lashes series is sounding great, hope it will help to overcome the fear in a good way…..
Thanks, Aditya. Yes, Luca seems to be conjuring up memories for many people who wish he were around when we or our children were younger!
Wow, that’s a pretty brutal way of getting over fear of the dark. Tough love?
Hi Carolyn,
Children world is a wonderful world. A world most of use have lost and we need to find it again.
This is a warm and beautiful initiative. Tell stories to our children in order to make the unknown seem familiar. Usually, this is the parent’s duty. However, books like this can be of real help and I congratulate the authors for their efforts and for their love for the children.
My first hair cut? It was a magical experience. Feeling that device on my head buzzing … . It was abselutely beautiful. A pleasant experience. Since that time I have always wanted to repeat it again. It seems there are a lot of “points” on the human head that are stimulated during a hair cut.
A hair cut doesn’t mean just cutting the hair. You feel the touch of a human hand on your head and a gentle and subtle massage, a friction that moves generates waves after waves of pleasure.
It is not the same thing as going to the doctor first time and “endure” your first injection. This is an unpleasant experience that leaves traces in the soul of most children, including mine.
This is the point where stories like this can be of real help and parents should pay a lot of attention to these “special times” in the life of a child.
A story like this can “transform” a doctor into your best friend and destroy any fear.
I love this initiative. I am sorry I have no children. It would have been so useful.
Have a nice day
Hi Silviu, What an eloquent way to describe the first experience getting a haircut. No wonder you remember it so well! You’re right, it’s best if a parent tries to help a child cope with new experiences. But I found that whatever I told my children about getting a haircut, they wouldn’t believe me. That’s why seeing these experiences through the eyes of a child like Luca could help a child understand what to expect.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, memories and insights with your wonderful comment here, Silviu!
We all had face same issue in our childhood, facing for first time happenings is a hard thing for child. Luca Lashes apps are good solution for children to get ready for the situation. And its time for parents to feel relaxation after having such apps.
Hi Narenda, You’re exactly right. Parents can’t be relaxed when their kids are stressed. Luca Lashes helps parents by calming their kids and by providing parents with the additional resources at the end of the books and on YouTube.
Very good post Carolyn.
When letting your child try out something for the first time it is also important for the parents to explain what is happening and how it is not dangerous. Either by these books/material or by kind and gentle words so that the child understands what is happening.
Hi Johan, Yes, when children see the world through another child’s eyes, then life doesn’t seem to be as scary. Luca Lashes does a good job of helping a child anticipate the unfamiliar.