At DANO2, we want to take the mystery out of how your toys are made. In order to do this, we’ll all take turns blogging about who we are and why we do the things we do. To kick it off, we’ll start with one of our favorite experts, Dr. Carolyn Monahan.
Who is Dr. Carolyn Monahan?
She is the Pediatrician behind our designs, the mother of the founder, and one phenomenal doctor and humanitarian. Here is an introduction in her own words:
I am a lucky woman. Besides helping people in a busy Pediatric practice, I have gotten to go to Kenya, Fiji, Jordan, and Guatemala teaching medical personnel how to resuscitate newborns having a hard time with those first crucial breaths.
Most wonderful of all my blessings, though, are my three grown children, as well as my beautiful granddaughter and the next baby on the way. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with my children in designing safe toys for my grandchildren.
As for this blog, I think it will be fun sharing with you what I’ve learned throughout my life.
Some of my knowledge comes via a Psychology degree from UCLA, ASU, and UCSD, some of it from an MD degree at UCLA with Internship, Residency, and Infectious Disease training at UCSD, and 40 years in the trenches battling strept throat, teething issues, and worried first-time parents, too.
But much more of what I have to say will seem intuitive to any grandmother worth her salt. I have been a mom and swear it is harder and more educational than earning my fancy titles. As a great professor once told me, “listen to the parent.” As one of the designers of these teethers and toys, I respect you and want to dialogue with you as we try to make the world safer for all of our children.
By safe, I don’t mean “bubble babies”- children need to explore. As Garrison Keillor once said “it’s a shallow life indeed that doesn’t give a person a few scars.” However, a bruise is one thing, but polluting our children and the environment with toys is a wholly different matter. In designing these toys, we committed ourselves to the belief that the environment we control should always promote life… life for children and life for the planet.
Take care; we can talk more later about how it is happening.
ChelMo
dano2slauren
Hello Carolyn: It was fun spending time and chatting with you yesterday at the quilting session. Hope we can meet again and continue the talk. I’d love to see the documentary your son has made – my son, Harry, is coming down on Monday, May 11 to celebrate Mom’s Day – I know he’d like to see it, too. Is it on a CD or DVD? Regards, Stephanie Z.