by Pamela Brill

 

If you’re like most parents with a baby or toddler, chances are the name “Baby Einstein” is part of your everyday vocabulary. Your playroom may, in fact, include copies of “Baby Mozart” and “Baby DaVinci” right alongside your child’s building blocks, stacking rings, and other toys.

 

Owning at least one “Baby Einstein” video is practically a given for today’s parents. Right up there with a stroller, high chair, and other baby-gear essentials, DVDs bearing the “Baby Einstein” brand name are topping baby gift registries and wish lists across the country.
In this article, we’ll explore just how “Baby Einstein” became a household name and amassed a following with moms and babies across the globe.

As parents learned of the video, consumer demand for more “Baby Einstein” products grew dramatically, resulting in other videos, followed by books, CDs, and toys.

“Parents today feel the pressure to compete, to have their child succeed in a challenging world. “All parents would like to help their children have the very best chances for success in education and life. The idea of an easy-to-load video or DVD that would help their children grow into smart, young students can be very enticing.”

Besides the idea of helping get their child off on the right foot, educationally speaking, experts note that allowing their children to watch these videos gives parents a short reprieve — whether that means getting dinner started or throwing in a load of laundry.

Vicky Rideout, vice president and director of The Kaiser Foundation’s program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health, has conducted a number of focus groups with parents of young children who watch these videos. “Parents buy them because they need a break. Dr. Brown recognizes the impact of the modern family nucleus on video viewing. With so many households in which both parents work, videos can become what she calls “an electronic babysitter.”

Considering the tremendous consumer demand for “Baby Einstein” videos/DVDs, the most obvious question is: Do these interactive videos actually help the learning process, or are they purely a form of entertainment?

Do Child Development Videos Fuel the Learning Process?

 

Whether or not videos for babies and toddlers actually increase a child’s learning potential has been a source of much debate among child development specialists.

 

According to Walter Gilliam of Yale University, there haven’t been any credible studies that can tell parents about these videos’ positive impact on young children. “Without credible data on their effectiveness, marketing these infant and toddler videos as ‘educational’ or ‘cognitively stimulating’ is misleading, at best.”

While the research may be inconclusive, some experts believe that higher-quality videos can serve a purpose — when viewed along with the child. Claire Lerner noted examples of developmental videos that set themselves apart. “The better videos try to create content on what we do know about child development,” she said. Dr. Helen Boehm, a child development specialist and the author of The Official Guide to the Right Toys,looks upon developmental videos as useful learning tools — as long as they are supplemented with other ways of teaching children about the world around them. “Introducing developmental videos, like other age-appropriate toys, engages babies in the learning process,” she said. A heavy or steady diet of videos or child-directed media is never advised.”

While some parents feel that these videos expose their child to music, language, and a variety of other mediums, several early-learning specialists are concerned that parents might rely too heavily on them.

Singer notes that infants watching these videos at six months or younger become accustomed to passive viewing at an early age. “We know that infants and toddlers learn most, fastest, and best through rich interactions with caring and sensitive adults,” Gilliam said. “Babies still need that live connection with their parents.”

Guidelines for Viewing Child Development Videos

While young children may appear to enjoy watching video after video in one sitting, experts caution against exceeding the recommended amount. According to Claire Lerner, director of parenting resources for Zero to Three in Washington, D.C., children older than two should watch no more than 30 minutes of videos a day. “You don’t want the video to replace the parent,” she said.

Children who benefit most from the screen are those who interact with the parent simultaneously. Watching together is also beneficial for the parent, who might otherwise be hard-pressed to find a creative way to extend the learning process. Dr. Dorothy Singer, senior research scientist at Yale University, also advises that parents talk about the video while viewing it together. Dr. Gilliam seconds this notion, stressing how the interaction between parent and child is the best way to helping them learn. “Play with your baby — and play often,” he said. “Talking about the show afterwards help the child think about it,” she said.

How to Reinforce Learning After the Video Is Over

The experts interviewed for this article agree that post-viewing conversations are essential to aiding the learning process.

For those who have just watched a video about pets and other neighborhood animals, Lerner suggests parents take a walk afterwards with their children and see real animals. “Hopefully, children are learning more from their parents than they are from the videos.”

Don’t forget to reintroduce what’s been learned at another point in time. Singer said. A trip to the zoo might jog a child’s memory to recall the zebra he or she saw while watching “Baby Noah Animal Expedition.”

One Mom’s “Baby Einstein” Experience

 

For Keri Puglisi of Northport, N.Y., her two-and-a-half-year-old son’s experience with “Baby Einstein” has been educational right from the start.

 

While watching “Baby Galileo Discovering the Sky,” Puglisi points out the moon in the video, repeats that the moon is in the sky, and asks about the location of the moon. Watching “Baby Monet Discovering the Seasons” helps prime Michael for a chat about the four seasons. A parent’s ability to translate what’s been viewed into a real-world experience is a way to engage a child in an interactive experience that makes learning fun.

Get other article on different topic telling about Breast Feeding vs Bottle Feeding on previous post.