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October 24, 2009

Disney admits Baby Einstein isn't educational

Walt Disney is taking the extraordinary step of offering refunds for its Baby Einstein videos bought between June 2004 and September, in what consumer advocates say is an admission that the videos don't teach babies anything.

The videos also have long conflicted with a recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics that kids under 2 watch no television (including videos) at all.

Will you be seeking a refund?

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 7:25 AM | | Comments (6)
Categories: Babies and Toddlers
        

Comments

I have a hard time believing that anyone honestly thought Baby Einstein would "teach" their babies anything. I mean, babies don't learn anything from staring at a screen except, well, how to stare at a screen. I had a few, and I saw them as no more than a perfectly nice way to keep my son entertained for a few minutes while I showered. At least the music was better than the typical Nick Jr. fare!

Still, if Disney advertised them as being educational, then it's only fair that they should offer refunds to anyone who bought them for that reason.

No. We have a few, and my kids liked them, but I never expected the videos to turn them into baby geniuses. Then again, my son was over one before he watched TV and my daughter was nearly two, but I feel like they did learn some things from the videos, but nothing earth shattering.

Ridiculous...anybody who plops their kids down in front of the television, especially those imbecilic videos, for an "education" is lazy not misled. Fast food and TV, modern parenting...

No, we will not be seeking a refund.

Hilarious! These parents that only see the world as black and white are really what's wrong with this country. These are the same kind of parents that walk into a grocery store and start nibbling on organic veggies and fruits (stealing) before purchasing because they think they must be clean... because they're organic.

My guess is that many of these parents are rather new parents and have recently been caught up in the somewhat controversial backlash on TV. This is old news to most of us here. It is unfortunate that the ill informed parents of the world (new or experienced assume the worst in parents out there especially living in Seattle, the center of the universe of parents that think TV is evil for children. Baby Einstien is yucky, bad for your children and could make you vomit isn't that far off from what many parents think. Passive entertainment, rote memorization of facts and information with no constructive meaning behind it is what entails many of the early learning children's products out there. Addressing multiple intelligences in a format that is more organic (the 5 senses for ei), since that is how all children learn are just some of the many ways children can learn just as TV is one tool out of many to demonstrate types of learning. Most parents with good common sense have spent an good amount of parent-child time together, they play outside more then they probably should, they're very active in sports and love reading and are very productive little human beings with play-based centric parents... and yes am talking about my 9 year old twins who have had their share of down yet active time engaged in assesing appropriate moving images and sound design on an pictue/sound display unit(TV) all under the age of 2 years. Are they brain dead now... god no! At the very least they are creative critical thinkers that have been lucky enough to have parents who handled the TV tool in appropriate ways. Not much Baby Einstein, and def not Brainy Baby... yes on those Braincandy videos which are awesome and very active and yes on simple narrative animal and other movies. Half the time we would sit down and talk with them during the entire 1/2 to 1 hour viewing. Now talk about learning opportunities... wow! All parents can get breakthrough leaning opportunities if they actually sit down and assess the picture units with the children... but of course you have to be an open minded parent unlike the nose lifters out there. I suppose that is the core of the problem right there... passive v. active. Most of TV is made to be passive entertainment. That's why parents turn on and tune out at the end of the day because they know there will be copious amounts of programming to inject themselves with to get to that very state of mind. I think this is why i really liked those Brain Candy videos, just so different then the passive Baby Eintstein videos. I remember seeing my toddler's brain churning when watching those videos. Regardless all this banter gets me thinking about balance and what entails good parenting. Too much TV is a bad thing (vidiot or fatso), too much reading is a bad thing (social misfit or fatso), too much time outside is a bad thing (banshee, hoodlum), too much McDonalds fast food is a bad thing (just fatso). I know children that live down the street that rarely received sweets at a young age and are now addicted to anything sugar. I remember college roomates that were never exposed to TV thru adolescence and to this day have a hard time controlling their TV time.

So please don't assume the worst in parents thinking you know best. It could possibly be a missed opportunity for another new way of strengthening your child's critical thinking skills. But of course you have to know the facts first... right? No goofball in a lab coat is going to tell me they know my child better then i do.

I will seek no refund. They were great, my kid obviously learned a lot from them. I followed all advice regarding television and my child did not see any videos until after she was two. She learned her colors and shapes from those videos so I guess I am baffled at the notion of a recall.

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About Kate Shatzkin
Kate Shatzkin is the parenting and families content editor at The Baltimore Sun and, before that, was its family beat reporter. But her most challenging and rewarding job is being mother to Leah, 8, and Sam, 6.

In her 14 years at The Baltimore Sun, Kate also has covered nonprofit organizations, prisons and courts, and has written several investigative series. She was previously a Knight journalism fellow at Yale Law School and a reporter at the Seattle Times and at the Patriot-Ledger of Quincy, Mass. She lives in Baltimore with her family.

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