Mar 04 2008
Share Baby Einstein with your baby and get moving!
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I was first exposed to the world of Baby Einstein videos
One thing that always calmed their little boy down were Baby Einstein videos
In August 2007, Frederick J. Zimmerman, PhD., Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH, and Andrew N. Meltzoff, PhD. came out with a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics that supposedly found that among babies ages eight months to 16 months, every hour spent daily watching programs such as Baby Einstein
The media picked up on it immediately and Disney asked for an apology. Yet, no one pointed out that the study was preliminary and not very scientific. In fact the researchers were very biased since Dr. Christakis had a reputation for blaming TV for a variety of behavioral problems in children and had been targeting Baby Einstein videos since 2005. I was so ticked off that I wrote “The Real Scoop on Watching Baby Einstein (just because you have a Dr. in front of your name doesn’t mean you’re right).”
I’ve been a big defender of QUALITY videos and television ever since. In fact, I support groups like the Smart Television Alliance, a coalition of nonprofit organizations committed to helping parents use technology to find and watch quality television programming. With this in mind I whole heartedly support parents use of Baby Einstein videos
Videos like Baby Einstein - Baby’s First Moves
Make it a Family Affair
Consider using DVD time as a way to interact with the whole family. If baby has an older sibling(s) around, you can invite them to watch the DVD with you. (Nathan enjoyed watching videos like this with Lucie when she was a baby.) Encourage your older child to point out the names of the animals, say the colors or even make animal sounds. They will love playing with baby and will be excited about showing off how much they know!
Also, it’s not about your baby sitting like a big lump in front of the TV watching a video and drooling. With Baby Einstein - Baby’s First Moves, which was sent to me by Baby Einstein/Disney to review, it’s about getting up and moving! The video is an interactive “celebration of babies’ movement milestones.” This includes walking, clapping, jumping, and dancing.The purpose of the video is to get parents and their children discovering movement together. So grab a copy of Baby Einstein - Baby’s First Moves
[...] Share Baby Einstein with your baby and get moving! - My Readable Feast shares their thoughts on the controversy of Baby Einstein videos. I think she makes a valid point about using them as a tool rather than a constant babysitter. [...]
The sad truth is that few parents are going to use the videos WITH their kids as you suggest. Instead, they are going to prop little Isabella or Jack (the names au courant for the kids in my neck of the woods)and expect that the videos are going to create that brilliant child they envision while they go back to doing other things. Thus the vocabulary gap–and I DO firmly believe that the study is accurate.
Sorry, but since when do parents need fricking videos to play and interact with their kids? Since when is a puppet on a screen better for kids than a puppet in the hands of mom or dad or daycare provider, interacting with the child?
This is lazy parenting at its worst, and adding the word “Einstein” to the title doesn’t make it any better.
Take that baby out for a walk in the real world and let them listen to the birds and see other people’s faces. Put on some music–any music you love and dance with them. Sit them on your lap and play pat-a-cake and peekaboo and bouncing games. You don’t need a video for that, and if you DO need some help with the games, I happen to know of a lot of good books with ideas
Yup, it’s work. But it’s also fun. And the time that they will be babies wanting to play “Trot Trot to Boston” and “Ring Around the Rosie” lasts such a short time. Plenty of time for the videos later..
I’m not a Baby Einstein fan. In fact, I can’t stand the stuff.
However, they cannot be blamed for lazy parenting. They have the word “interactive” all over their website. The decision is for parents to do what they will with their product.
Far more importantly, however, is that fact that there really are educational videos out there. Einstein is not the only company that makes media for little ones. There are amazing products out there that teach (and I do mean teach– yes, in every other context, showing a child something is considered teaching the child. Why is a study necessary to show that videos do teach? They definitely teach something. Some videos teach more and some less. Some children get more and some less.)
For example, Muzzy. You want your child to learn a foreign language and you don’t speak one? Can’t afford a multilingual nanny? Well, that product gives your baby a chance to hear another language during that early window of language learning and long before you can send them to Spanish class. Couple it with some Spanish song CDs for kids and an occasional spanish Dora on TV and your kid obviously has a head start over the kid who has never hear an Ola until the ripe old age of 4.
The sad fact about Baby EInstein is that it really has no educational content that needs to be presented to a baby. What about colors and numbers 1-5 you protest? Big deal, a baby can learn that in no time flat with a book or you pointing things out for a week. Watching the same inane video 100 times after they got the idea from a viewing or two (even though they cannot tell you that they know) has got to be as mind numbing for babies as it is for adults.
[...] presents Share Baby Einstein with your baby and get moving! posted at My Readable Feast, saying: “No matter what you think of “baby videos,” [...]