Anyone with children, young siblings, or nieces/nephews has probably seen the 'Baby Einstein' DVD's or some variant of them. For those of you who don't know the joys of 'Baby Einstein', it is a series of DVD's that young children (newborn and up) watch and supposedly get smarter. The company that makes 'Baby Einstein' is very careful to avoid claiming that their product actually makes babies smarter or develop more quickly. They instead claim that their DVD's and other products "encourage discovery and inspire new ways for parents and little ones to interact" (see their website here). Despite the legally safe claims, the name of the product clearly indicates that these DVD's should make your kid a genius.That's why I was very amused to read a story from Time magazine titled "Baby Einsteins: Not So Smart After All" which reported on the research of two University of Washington professors whose research has shown that watching 'Baby Einstein' DVD's actually stunts babies development. The DVD's are especially damaging to the verbal development of 8-16 month olds, and can limit the vocabulary developed by children in that age group by up to eight vocabulary words per hour watched. As anyone who has tried to watch that mind-numbing mush knew a long time ago, these DVD's aren't some magic smart pills.
Ironically, the two things that actually improve babies intelligence more than just letting them play by themselves are extremely low-tech. The second best method is simply talking to the baby and the best method is reading/storytelling. Who would have guessed that reading to a child is better than having them watching TV, even if 'Baby Einstein' is playing?
