Baby Einsteins: Not So Smart After All

[SallyMander]

Time article linked on CNN.com -- http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html?cnn=yes


And isn't the woman who founded Baby Einstein a fundy wacko?


From the article:

"The claim always seemed too good to be true: park your infant in front of a video and, in no time, he or she will be talking and getting smarter than the neighbor's kid. In the latest study on the effects of popular videos such as the "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" series, researchers find that these products may be doing more harm than good. And they may actually delay language development in toddlers.

Led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos."

[Ian David]

1. She's apparently a Loyal Bushie who was "honored" at The Misstatement of The Union Address. n/t

[DS1]

2. Well DUUUH!

[phantom power]

3. People seem to have difficulty with the concept of "moderation."

[SallyMander]

4. Seriously!

The article says that 90% of 2-year-olds spend 2 to 3 hours in front of the TV!

[Madspirit]

5. "People seem to have difficulty with the concept of 'moderation.'"

This says it all and could apply to most things.

Lee

[thunder rising]

17. training them early to be good TV watchers ... that's all

Like, they learn that if you sit there long enough the answers will come to you.

[BridgeTheGap]

6. How about some LIVE human interaction!?!

Seems to have worked wonders for thousands of years, hasn't it?

[greyl]

7. Millions. nt

[YOY]

8. Who has time for that?

Gotta work. Need insurance. Need to pay off the student loans. Need to pay off the Mortgage. Need to buy more stuff. Need to work another job to do so...

[shain from kane]

9. The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of

the remaining side. Oh joy! Rapture! I got a brain! How can I ever thank you enough?

[Peregrine]

13. ?huh?

x

[JHB]

15. Quoth the Scarecrow, after the Wizard of Oz handed him a diploma...

IIRC...

[Javaman]

10. wasn't morons* brother involved with BE bullshit? nt

[Quantess]

11. TV is harmful to young brains.

Ideally, young children shouldn't be watching any television or videos, no matter how "educational" or family-friendly. The content is irrelevant. The boob tube is harmful to young children's cognitive development.

They need real life interaction with their environment.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. The first 2 years of life are critical for the development of the

right orbitofrontal cortex, the so-called "social cortex." Kids need interactive experiences with other humans--usually mom--during that period or they suffer some very intractable deficits. Researchers like Allan Schore and Dan Siegel have published quite a bit about this.

Videos don't cut it.

[kenfrequed]

14. Ha.

Always the quick fix in this society.

"Here gentle parents is a video that will make up for the fact that must work long hours and don't have as much time with your infant as you would like."

This is very unfortunate and I think the labor gap explains a very important socialization/education gap that occurs in the less economically well off. Parents that cannot afford to stay at home and help raise the children resort to television and videos or bargain basement daycare (which often ends up being the same thing).

Kids need actual interraction in the real world. People that watch television enter a very low level brain state. Placing kids in this brain state continually cannot possibly be good for them.

[LeftHander]

16. Nothing replaces READING to your child...

Them sitting in your lap with a book watching you form words that match the pictures. Hearing your voice and feeling your warmth.

I am tearing up thinking of reading "Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Pat the Bunny", the stunning "Fox's Dream" (a bedtime favorite) and of course Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit", and the tales of "Mrs. Tittlemouse" and "Mr. Jeremy Fisher"...she used to cackle to these...so did I every time. She would come running out of her room with several books for me to read to her... A book case has always been a prominant and overflowing part of her room.



NYT Review of Fox's Dream

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5D6113CF93BA35752C1A961948260

We lived in the north deep in the woods and the winters looked just like the images in this book. My daughter could look out the sliding glass doors of her bedroom and see the moonlight cast tree shadows on the snow in the Chequamegon forest. The long winter evenings were for books in our home.

[Arkansas Granny]

18. You've got that right. One of my sons told me recently that one of

his earliest memories is of sitting in my lap while I read him a story. He thinks he was about 3 years old at the time. I read to my kids every day when they were small. I don't think there's any substitute for that.

[SallyMander]

20. I have similar earliest memories

In fact that's how i learned to read! And i'm still an avid reader -- it makes such a difference.

~Sally

[sandnsea]

25. Well that couldn't be the problem

It couldn't possibly be the lack of reading that's the problem. Naah. It's goofy videos with classical music and floating shapes. Yeah, that's it.

[Odin2005]

19. Kids under 2 shouldn't be watching ANY television, no matter what the content is.

Any form of entertainment that isn't interactive is bad for infants and toddlers, or so I've read.

[Nye Bevan]

28. You're probably right- in theory

And I would have agreed with you heartily before I had kids.

But in the real world, when the 10 year old needs help with her homework, the 5 year old is refusing to put his PJs on, and I just need the 2 year old to be quiet for a while, I'll put her in her high chair in front of a Barney video and give her a frozen fruit bar. So sue me. Most of the time I will get to read a few books to her later on.

[Nye Bevan]

21. I'm very disillusioned with Baby Einstein

My 2 year old has been watching it while she has breakfast for the last few weeks, and she has shown no signs as yet of even being able to do basic calculus, let alone Special Relativity.

[AlCzervik]

24. for real, my kid still hasn't figured out how to power up the atom smasher we got

her. Damn slacker children. Shakes fist in air.

[SallyMander]

27. She's not even taking derivatives?!??!!

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Anyone who thinks that putting infants in front of a TV for an extended period of time

is not only good, but helpful, is out of their ever lovin mind.

jesus christ on a trailer hitch, no wonder so many kids have trouble sitting still and paying attention when they go to school.

[sandnsea]

23. Classical music is bad for kids

Well I'll be. Who knew.

[symbolman]

26. There's one series of videos that DOES work

and we slammed our son with it, it's revolutionary, and it works - everyone we've sent this series is AMAZED..

It's calld "Signing Time", and it's nothing like the Baby Einstein crap which I'd never allow our two year old to watch.

Especially good for kids with delayed speech, etc.

The woman who created the series (and it's been on PBS for a few years now, every Saturday), found out that her first child was Deaf, soon none of the kids would play with her daughter, so to help her the mom learned American Sign Language.

Being a musician (as well as her father who's won numerous awards in the biz, scoring films) the whole family got together and wrote songs to sign to - in effect the child learns TWO Languages (and they are like a SPONGE at that age), and can communicate with you (of course YOU have to learn sign language as well, and it's easy watching this show) - and soon you are conversing with your BABY. It's incredible, kids as young as nine months are TALKING to you with signs.

It doesn't delay speech, it AMPLIFIES it as far as I can tell.. and the terrible twos are GONE, they're not just based on self autonomy, but LACK of Communication - of which there is NONE in our household - my two year old has known about two hundred signs for a LONG time now.

As soon as he started speaking, he was using the words that he'd learned as signs - and the best part is the Music ROCKS that this lady writes, not that Barney shit that drives you crazy, it's actually a JOY to listen to this show over and over. And with it being Primarily KIDS that your child is watching as they sign, the child feels like he's playing with real children, and communicating - not a Passive thing, real communication that they can USE.

Like I said, it's Revolutionary, and I would urge ALL Parents to watch with their kids, or pick up the series - you'll be glad you did, it WORKS, and it DOES actually make them SMARTER. I studied Piaget in college, Sculpture major, art education Minor, and this will in no way damage your kid, it WORKS.

I was astounded, as were many people we've turned on to this series. Watch it with your kid, or go online and check it out here - we've met Rachel, the creator many times, a real sweetheart, and a genius.

http://www.signingtime.com

DO IT, you won't be sorry!