Recently launched U.K. content company DaddiLife Productions announced the launch of a brand new book and video series, Dadda Panda, including YouTube animated shorts and songs for kids ages three and up and and their parents/carers. Dadda Panda is a pioneering representation of a primary carer father in children’s media, who stays at home with his cubs while Mumma Panda goes to work.
The new company, book and series is helmed by the founder of the award winning website and community DaddiLife (now reaching more than 100,000 parents a month), Han-Son Lee, who has produced nine books, including four Amazon best sellers. Alongside Nick Withers (former head of development at NBCUniversal’s label Monkey and co-creator and producer of Rap Tales on Sky Kids) and registered children’s dietitian Sarah Bushell. The illustration and animation is produced by King Bee Animation (Daisy Digs It, Cats vs. Pickles).
Written in a rhyming style, the book and complimentary YouTube content focuses on the relatable parenting challenge (or ‘mission’ as Dadda Panda calls it) of fussy eating. QR codes in the book lead readers to the animated shorts and sing-alongs that emphasize the lessons, like “Gobble Your Greens” and “Make Food Fun.”
Dadda Panda also contrasts with the longstanding cartoon dad character tropes of being lazy and incompetent around the house with a more modern view of today’s fathers — Millennial dads who are heavily involved in day-to-day parenting. Dadda Panda activates ‘super Dad’ mode by going into his ‘shed’ or ‘man cave’ to figure out how to complete each ‘mission.’ His AI powered ‘smart’ plant Bot-Zai gives disastrous (and comedic) ideas that spark Dadda Panda’s more credible solutions.
DaddiLife Productions conducted research which shows that, since the COVID-19 lockdowns, stay at home dads have risen significantly, and U.K. dads are doing 18 percent more childcare since pre-pandemic times. Two thirds of dads are involved in cooking for their children, with 40 percent in charge of the grocery shop.
“There is a huge dearth of positive and relatable dad role models in children’s media. We aim to address this imbalance and create a more modern interpretation of fatherhood,” says Lee. “Dadda Panda offers a much needed new positive father figure that kids will love and parents will be inspired by. He is memorable, distinct and represents Dads in a way that gets children to do something positive. We are offering a unifying figure with an entertaining entry point, providing guidance and support.”
Well timed to the food-focused winter holiday celebrations, Dadda Panda’s first mission to tackle is fussy eating and the challenge of getting kids to try new foods. The book provides inspiration and guidance to navigate this sometimes overwhelming meal — DaddiLife Prod. teamed up with Bushell to draft the top 10 tips on keeping a tantrum-free Christmas dinner. An animated holiday special has launched as well to further illustrate the book’s message.
“This book is all about helping parents think differently about how they feed their children, as often how they ‘food parent’ stems from how they were fed as kids,” says Bushell. “Being a positive food parent involves trusting your child to listen to their appetite, supporting them to grow confidence around unfamiliar foods by making mealtimes enjoyable and food fun, all so that their natural curiosity is piqued allowing them to explore and learn about how food looks, feels, smells and eventually tastes.”
Follow the Dadda Panda Official Channel on YouTube and find more parenting tips for modern dads at DaddiLife.com.
