That is a great idea to chat with your daughter about simple things.  It will not be wasted, really it is simple and really I would just do it as much as you could or that you could remember to do it.  That is usually my problem, I forget! 

Hi!  We did not have the luxury of knowing a second language either.  I noticed with my boys that DVD's really helped with pronunciation which is really showing now, 6 and 8. However you are right they will not get too far on videos alone!  I really suggest learning together and having a lot of fun with the language you choose which sounds like Spanish.  There are many methods that I find the boys really love like Total Physical Response and Word Association. Also you have no choice but to mix Spanish and English together since you are not fluent.  Start small, when you learn a word use it as much as you can i.e. replace thank you for Gracias as much as you can. I suggest having several picture word books around so they can look through them when they want.  Laugh at yourself when you make mistakes and make it an enjoyable experience.  Don't give up!  Remember the goal is for them to continue learning this language when you are not around!  So make them love it! I have seen that little pim is in Spanish and there are some Brainy Baby Spanish DVD's you might want to check out.
Baining
mandarinkids.wordpress.com

Hi,  I read an interesting article about this.  I put the link below.  Hope it helps. 
http://parenting.ivillage.com/tp/tpbehavior/0,,71g0,00.html

MMM, this is sad.  I agree!  Don't compare your kids to others, highlight their strengths and for goodness sake don't pass on our own issues to them! 

Hi,  I think Chinese would not be a problem actually.  We have been teaching our boys for almost 5 years and they are doing pretty well.  My suggestion would be to not teach pinyin just the characters so their is not another written phonetic language to compete with.  My boys like the characters because they really do tell a story if you learn about them.  It would be hard to really help them with it past a certain point if you don't know it but they will still learn a lot from the exposure.  They will more readily pick it up later when they or you are ready to delve into the language more.  I don't think you can really go wrong with it! 
Your little one may be a little young now but I am doing a 21 Day Chinese Lesson Challenge and a drawing for a giveaway to all who subscribe for it!  The give away is Learn Chinese Characters from Tuttle which is a great book for you to remember the 800 most common characters and you could help your little ones easier!
http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

I don't know about this book.  I have tried Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy Lessons
This is really a great book only 20 dollars and each lesson is only 15 min. and they are scripted for you to easily go through with your kids.  I used this for both my boys and they are very good readers!  Also it has been around for years and has a good reputation.  You should just check it out for free at Borders or something.  It is well worth the 20 dollars and it is all you need.

baining
http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

This thread has been fun to read!  Everyone feels really strongly about pro or con on this!  Even me who left the first response.  Sorry if I misquoted Big boy blog.  I think after reading all this that one thing is very clear!  This is a group of parents extremely, with good reason, dedicated to the daunting task of teaching their kids another language!  That is really an encouraging thing in this day in age!  This approach would not work for us either since we are just learning ourselves, but we have really enjoyed being welcome into the Chinese culture. I think that the old saying is true there is more than one way to skin a cat! Right!  Whatever you are using keep it up!  No one will care about your kids success as much as you and in the end I think this is what will make the difference! 

"Even good plans fail with a lack of dedicated commitment!"-unknown

Baining

You know why I started homeschooling my kids?  Don't keep reading if you don't want to know!
I did it because the education system failed me!  I felt so stupid, embarrassed and inadequate at school.  I felt apathetic because well what was the point.  I always thought if I had kids I would send them to school and just hope they were smarter than me!  Then I had the boys and they loved to learn, everything, all the time!  We were having so much fun and the crazy thing is I was learning!  I learned the planets and many stars, I learned geography!  I sent my oldest to school and it was gone!  He hated being there and he was not learning!
I cleaned house for a former teacher and I did not want to tell her my desire to homeschool (of course she would be against it right?)  Well it came up one day and I asked her opinion on it.  Her answer "If your really love your kids, you can not do a worse job than the school system!"  Needless to say we have been loving home studies ever since.
An added bonus our state Nevada is ranked 50th worst of the 50 states!  Speaks for itself!

What have I learned since I graduated?  A lot!  Including Mandarin!  More importantly that I am not an idiot! 
Bonnie (Baining)

http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

Hi,
  I just read another blog about this from Big Boy and Xiao Chien!  I will add the link below.  She dosn't really like it.  I haven't heard of it till recently but it does not make a lot of sense to me either.  I think I also would feel I was missing out!  My husband and I have 2 boys 6 and 8 and we started learning Chinese as a family goal.  When you have something that you all work on together like that and all can share in the joys and frustrations together it is really a neat experience!  Also personally I have found that my boys retain the most when we are having fun.  My boys are pretty humorous and many times we will be out together and they will make up a joke that will use recent words or sentence structure they had just learned and then add in English for what they don't know.  We do the same back, English and Chinese.  They seem to really retain anything we joke about and can use it later the right way.  But most importantly I think is we are laughing together.  My boys really love Chinese and I think I don't know yet because they are not adults yet, but I think they will love it enough to keep learning it and using it.  That is the goal right!  If they master a language by 6 but don't use it anymore or can't because the only one who they can speak with is dad then it might seem limiting and not too fun and not worth continuing.  And we all know if we don't use it we lose it.

Well now you see how opinionated I am since I have never even tried it!!! 
I will keep following this thread to see if someone else has and it has worked, I am interested.
Here is my blog with lots of ideas on interactive learning http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/


Here is Big Boy Blog about the subject  http://wenjonggal.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/one-person-one-language-and-other-theories-that-bug-me/

Hi, We are fair weather vegetarians    Actually we don't love meat like we used to but we basically decided it was too expensive!  Then eventually we preferred a vegetarian diet.  We have 2 boys 6 and 8 and I think about this often.  I read someplace that Red kidney bean are really good they have more protein than black and dark red kidney beans even more protein is good for brain function.

This was a good article you should read!  Red apples , leafy greens, walnuts, I don't remember the rest?
http://www.ehow.com/about_5370479_healthy-vegetarian-brain-food.html


Hope it helps! Baining, Bonnie
http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

Hi,
  We have two boys who we are teaching Mandarin.  When we started we couldn't speak at all!  It has been 5 years and is going really well.  I think the  is that you have to use a variety of approaches.  The videos are good but only if just supplement with them.  Total Physical Response is a method to look up it is extremely effective for little ones, they love it!  I have just started a site for parents to share fun interactive ideas on teaching their kids a new language.  I would love for you to join our little group!  We would love to hear from you any ideas you have questions, and any cute stories you have or will inevitably have with learning another language! 

Most importantly just don't give up!  Even if you think it's not working!  It will pay off!
Hope to hear from you soon and have you as a subscriber!


http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

Thanks so Much!  She is adorable!  Yes please share your cute language learning stories, which she inevitably will have, with us on the site under Smile Stories! 

We are not fluent yet, I don't know if that will ever come but we do have a lot of Chinese friends so we can keep a pretty good conversation going.  But if someone wanted to talk about  their recent hysterectomy with me then... no!!!

Please do keep in touch and please share also and learning ideas, questions, topics or frustrations on the site!  Thanks so much!
You can also get a free subscription there too!
Hope to hear from you soon!

Ni xinku le!  Your hard work appreciated!  Mandarin
Baining
http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

Hi Again!  I am so excited to have you will our new little group!  I love the play group idea.  There is not much here in Reno but now you got my wheels turning about starting something, hmm.   Your little one in the picture is adorable!  We have a section for cute stories that inevitably happen when learning another language so please share!  This is kinda interesting, one of my subscribers is a Chinese Comic guy and he looks through the site for funny stories to make into Chinese comics, so who knows!  Of course he makes sure it is something you want first.  Anything else you want to share too!  Ideas, questions, frustrations!  Hope to hear from you soon. 
Here is the comic guys link http://www.mandmx.com/
 
and me!
http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

Hi!  Wow I am so excited you liked the blog!  Sometimes it is hard to tell because not everyone comments.  Your daughter is adorable and please remember to visit again for any cute language stories or culture stories which you will inevitably have!  Thank so much and hope to hear from you again on the site!  Thanks Baining

Hi, this post is a little old but I had to write!  We knew no Chinese when we started teaching our boys.  The key is to not give up and to learn with them.  Also I hate to break it to you but they will not be fluent with just Little Pim and other like programs.  I tried.  Although I think my boys got the pronunciation down from them!  They are 6 and 8 now and they speak really well!  They are learning much more now because we know much more now!  The best way our boys have learned is when we are doing it with them!  I have a lot of game ideas, teaching techniques and just funny stuff about the joys and challenges of learning another language on my blog.  Please come subscribe and get updates on new ideas and encouragement to keep on going!  Let me know if you have any questions and what you need help on or any cute stories to share about learning!

Hope to hear from you soon! http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/