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Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
Our View: What? Spend real time with the baby?
Say it ain't so! Is it really true that videos for babies don't make the infants smarter?
This question has been given new life with the scandal -- yes, the scandal -- over the Baby Einstein Co. videos.
You've heard about these, no? Baby Mozart, Baby Wordsworth, Baby DaVinci, Baby Galileo, Baby Van Gogh, Baby Shakespeare. Imagine bright-colored objects floating around to lovely music on a flat screen.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV or video for kids under two (in favor of interaction with a live human being). But nobody listens to pediatrics, right?
It's so much easier just to plop the kid down in front of the screen so he or she is mesmerized for a few hours, allowing mum and dad to have some time to themselves.
Here's what American Baby magazine had to say in giving the videos an award: "While not every parent likes to admit their baby watches TV, when pressed almost all moms and dads say these DVDs save them."
The magazine then quoted Alisha Ensky of Krebs, Okla., who said: "It gives me an extra half hour to clean. I pop in Baby Einstein and my 10-month-old is glued to it."
Faced with a lawsuit for making false and deceptive claims about the educational value of baby videos, the Baby Einstein Co. recently agreed to issue refunds.
But will there be many takers? Not likely.
Parents love 'em. Clearly, they need a break from all the talking, playing and reading that, according to those darn experts, actually encourages learning.
Editorials are the opinion of the Merced Sun-Star editorial board. Members of the editorial board include Publisher Hank Vander Veen, Executive Editor Mike Tharp, Editorial Page Editor Keith Jones, Copy Desk Chief Jesse Chenault and Online Editor Brandon Bowers.
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