Baby Eintsteins -- When Good Equals Bad
As if moms of babies and young children didn't have enough to worry about with the latest toy recalls, a recent report by the Journal of Pediatrics states that educational videos geared toward babies and toddlers, such as the Baby Einstein series, have no clear benefit to a child's development and in some cases may hinder their language skills. The study of over 1,000 families with infants or toddlers found that for every hour of video per day, babies between the ages of 6 and 18 months actually knew fewer words than their non-video-watching counterparts. Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, even went so far as to quip "I would rather babies watch 'American Idol' than these videos." Because we all know babies love Randy Jackson. So are you a bad mom for letting your baby or toddler watch an educational video? Lord knows my daughter watched her fair share (and then some) of Barney back in the day. Have we ruined their lives forever?
Moms are discussing this study on the May 2007 Playgroup:
"Baby Einstein was a 20 minute break for me, not an educational tool. I think nothing on TV is as "educational" as the marketing teams make them out to be."
The November 2003 Playgroup moms come to pretty much the same conclusion:
"I think "everything in moderation" is important here, and letting them watch a video here and there shouldn't be a problem. When kids are left to sit and watch hours of TV on a regular basis, with no interaction with their parents, that is a problem..."
Ok, so no one is going to prescribe 24/7 television for babies -- or kids of any age for that matter. Is this study "news"? Do you feel that videos for babies and toddlers meet a need, whether it's educational or entertainment? Or should we just round up all the DVDs and throw them into the bonfire?
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imo our kids are too wired, from too early an age and TV, computer, cell phones, etc. should be limited, let them run and play. I saw a kid yesterday on his bike, he might have been 8 or 9, fairly young - leaning on the handle bars with the bike coasting slowwwwwwwwwwwly down the sidewalk, as he talked on his cell phone. We go to the park, and you see young kids playing on their handheld games, rather than running around the park - what's the point? Technology has a place in today's world and kids should be exposed to it, and allowed to master it, certainly... but it shouldn't be at the expense of other normal activities, imo.