Recently I was reading a blog called 'A little pregnant' It's all about the woman, her child, Charlie, and her current struggle with infertility. She definitely has a gift with words and I enjoy reading her blog. As I scrolled down through her older posts I came across this one. She talks about her son's reaction to the 'Baby Mozart' video from the Baby Einstein series. She was startled by it's all-encompassing hold on her son so she created her own (tongue in cheek) video for children. HOLY crap, I laughed so hard at this video I nearly peed my pants. To top it off, Nolan crawled from the living room into the computer room and stared at her little 3 inch square video on the screen- transfixed.
When I was a new mom- nearly four years ago. I had no idea what to do with my daughter all day, I used Baby Einstein as a baby sitter nearly daily. She used to sit in her exer-saucer and stare at the images for hours at a time. The images of toys and puppets, etc. are also accompanied by pleasant music or poems narrated by a pleasant female voice. Heck, the first few times I put a BE video on, I remember sitting on the couch in complete awe and amazement at the intoxicating mixture of pleasure inducing stimulus. I know, I should think that i rotted out a part of her brain (or her retina) but as it turned out, she was always advanced for her age and quite the blessed little girl (obviously with no help from me- in spite of me). Perhaps Baby Einstein isn't as bad as some people think?? Or perhaps my 'brilliant' genes were able to flourish in spite of the massive amount of T.V. time she endured???
Whatever it is, I still look on the BE videos kindly. And would recommend them to any mother, but especially the mothers that were near the end of their mental ropes- like I was at the time.
Hugs and baby Einstein kisses,
~jen
lynne you are so right about the commercials. Most of the Canadian preschool channels don't have any type of commercials so i'm free and clear for hours of entertainment.
HardTI, those portable DVD players are a complete lifesaving piece of technology aren't they??? When I was in the Hospital, prego with Nolan, I would have gone crazy without mine.
Posted by: Jen (this is my blog) McE | Jan 16, 2006 at 10:41 AM
I love the Baby Einstein videos. I put them on for Zach when I really need to get something done. They were also a lifesaver in the car (thanks to my mom's portable dvd player) when we drove 14 hours to Louisiana over Christmas!
Posted by: dee | Jan 16, 2006 at 10:19 AM
I have a friend who swears by the Baby Einstein videos. Her view on TV is that she usually doesnt allow her kids to watch TV. Partially because she doesnt think it is good for them. But also because when she *really* needs to have them transfixed by the TV because she needs to get things done, it is something they are really into because they havent gotten bored with it. Anyhow, my opinion is that TV does not "rot the brain." I think the biggest harm from TV comes from the advertisements directed at kids who dont have the capability to understand that advertisors claims are biased. But there arent any commercials on Baby Einstein videos are there?
Posted by: lynne | Jan 16, 2006 at 09:04 AM