It didn't help us. We have 6 and 1 year. They love pets, but we're not ready for one. Enter: this item. I like that it's rechargeable. Some others use AA/AAA batteries and run out very quickly. The price was ok too. But it didn't catch my kids' attention. They returned to the game an hour later with their AA "Chippie" battery and never got it back. My concern about this item is that it is too "foreign" for my liking. It gives me a British or Canadian vibe (at best) but it's not what we were looking for. The accent is a bit difficult to understand. The choice of words on the remote control is also a bit confusing. Songs (especially ABC) have different rhythms and rhythms. It just wasn't fun. The learning curve was too steep for us. It was also quite loud with no volume control option.