So Parking My Kid in Front of a TV Doesn't Make My Kid Brilliant?

Yet another study has come out that downplay the developmental benefit of the Baby Einstein videos that parents so commonly park their infants and toddlers in front of. What's somewhat alarming is that this recent study seems to imply that there's a detrimental education effect - that kids will actually learn less words than children who aren't exposed to a potpourri of hand puppets, pinwheels and kids playing with toys with repetitive patterns while classical music plays in the background.

In truth, we have a whole the whole DVD set, and from the get go the claims of educational value were dubious at best. I think the value of the videos, akin to many other videos aimed at children is mostly based on the convenience of capturing their attention and engaging them for a period of time while a parent takes a nap, washes the dishes or tapping out a blog. Think of it as a substitute for a babysitter or a physical playpen.

It doesn't surprise me at all that too much exposure at certain ages are deleterious. I remember the look on Daniel's face as he watched these years ago, and it was sort of this glassy-eyed trace-like state with his mouth slightly agape waiting for drool to stream out the side. Sort of something you'd expect to see from a bad drug trip. Not that I've ever witness or experienced anything like that, of course. Moving on...

What I also found interesting in the article was the overload of stimulation and the false premise that "stimulation = smart kids". As a result, we're bombarding our youngsters with sensory overload at a very young age, and continue that trend by overloading them with extracurricular activities at an early age out of the fear that not giving them a foundation where they're musically, athletically, linguistically and academically advanced will jeopardize their chances of getting into an Ivy League school. And much of this is coming at the expense of the best diet developmentally and emotionally - face time and free play time with human beings.

I'd continue this rant, but I need to take Daniel to his karate lesson.