Alright, so Baby Einstein isn't killing your child. But is it really helping them out? Let me give you a little back story. As you may know, my wife and I are expecting our first child early next year. That being said, we are very excited as are my parents since they'll be first time grandparents. My mom brought a book on baby products and ratings and other interesting information. This book had a section of items that were not worth buying and among them was Baby Einstein. The reason the book listed Baby Einstein as a bad product because it is essentially an edutainment product. We recently discussed the difference between edutainment and playful learning so I believe there is a good grasp of what I'm talking about here. Now, before all of you already parents may boo me, I love TV and have since a young age and I am not saying my child will be brought up not watching TV. But there is a limit to this at a young age, or so I believe. To plop you child down in front of the TV and assume that a passive activity will make baby smarter seems a little far fetched. Instead, why not enact some playful learning experience with baby--which might also lead to some increased bonding with mommy and daddy. At a minimum, one could hope to grow baby's motor skills.
This brings me to a second point of contention for me, and America's youth. I don't know about you, but I feel it is sad that commercials like the NFL "Play 60" program show up on TV. For those of you not familiar with Play 60, it is NFL players encouraging children to go outside and be active for a minimum of 60 a day every day. Since much of the socialization of children will take place in the home, is it right to start out baby's first months or years plopped in front of a TV being edutained? With younger generations become more and more wired (or wireless), it seems plausible that it will be harder and harder to pull them away from technology to go and interact in the outside world.
Just a little food for thought. You're welcome to ask me how things are going with my implementation of this early next year.
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ReplyDeleteCongrats, Steve. I didn't know you are expecting a kid :) Exciting times ahead. So here are some thoughts about Baby Einstein, TV, and babies, from this expert mother of a 15 month old. Note: This is just our experience, and could very well not resonate with your upcoming little miracle.
ReplyDelete1. You will be so exhausted, sleep deprived, and overwhelmed with details (at least for the first three months), that you'll use anything that works to calm down the kid.
2. TV will NOT be helpful in any way in calming down/entertaining the kid. The pacifier will be your best bet.
3. By the time the kid is old enough to actually care about what is on TV, he/she will be up walking and will find much more enjoyment in bashing hard objects on the TV screen (on the cartoon figures he/she is drawn to) and laughing than actually sitting down and watching said program.
4. Toddlers do not sit still. Ever. At all.
Good luck! I can't wait to hear how it goes!
Aha, the post has appeared! Congrats! I didn't know that you and your wife were expecting either :) I think that the research on Sesame Street has some bearing here (and if we're critical about studies on books, it's probably similar)... Many of these studies have found that the media itself is not the great equalizer we thought it would be, rather it's the role of the adult in engaging the child in meaningful conversations around the content presented in the media (i.e., the practices). Watching TV in the absence of a social context appears to have little to no impact on learning... Not too surprising when you think about it but all the more reason to actively engage kids (or babies) in conversations be it about books, TV, or vlogs...
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