My thoughts on…the stupidity of “Baby Einstein”
*knocks on monitor* Hey you. Do you have a toddler? If you do, chances are you have a Baby Einstein DVD, and you probably stuff it down his/her throat, making them watch it day in and day out in the hopes that your little rugrat will become all that you failed to be, right? Well if you do, you may be turning your kid into Homer. Not the great Greek poet. Homer Simpson. A study by The University of Washington revealed that for every hour a day that babies 8 to 16 months old were shown “Brainy Baby” or “Baby Einstein,” they knew six to eight fewer words than other children.
Really? Teaching your kid to sit on his/her fat ass watching TV from an early age makes them stupider? Who’da thunk it? I always suspected that Baby Einstein was overrated, but I didn’t know it was this bad. Understandably, Disney, owner of Baby Einstein, is not pleased, and wanted the release retracted. Thankfully the President of the University had the balls to stand up to Mickey’s minions.
And guess what? It was found that children whose parents read to them or told them stories had larger vocabularies, and parental involvement was important to childhood development. So don’t think that there are shortcuts to raising a brilliant kid. My mom taught me spelling and math from an early age with a blackboard, a couple sticks of chalk, and a firm hand. And I think I came out pretty well, don’t you think? But despite this evidence, I know Baby Einstein won’t be harshly affected, as Americans have an insatiable hunger for convenience, which seemingly extends to the upbringing of children. Sad. If America is already such a stupid country, then I shudder to think of what the Baby Einstein generation will be like.
