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I just read the previous posts on the back-and-forth between U of WA and Robert A. Iger, and while I agree that it would be upsetting that a study that didn't focus on Baby Einstein specifically resulted in reporters going, \"OMG Baby Einstein makes ur kids dum!!!!!\", it's pretty hard to justify lead.
On the other hand, they do have a Baby Van Gough line, and Van Gough is sometimes suspected of having lead poisoning, so maybe it makes sense after all!
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We actually got those exact toys as a gift, but thank goodness, I just checked the serial number and we're safe (for now), and she doesn't pay any attention to them.
Still, as a parent, I hate freaking out and having to check the serial number every time there's another recall in a seemingly endless stream of them.
@SVreader: Speaking of Van Gough, she thinks the sunflowers on the dining table are the most amazing fucking things in the world. God bless her.
@MissJ: Yeah, \"it does help\" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, when pretty much everything else in the world helps too, usually for cheaper, like the aforementioned sunflowers.
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I think I know a parent who specifically had a kid so she could play Baby Einstein for the baby. I showed her the research on the TV/ADD link for kids younger than two (this was a three-month-old baby), and she stopped.
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You do realize that the researchers tested the baby videos bysticking children in front of TV screens by themselves and without anyperson to interact with, while the \"control\" group was not subjugatedto watching anything at all from a boob tube?
Please, keep such sensationalist notions out of Consumerist.
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well i always knew these were useless. if you want your kid to be smart, how about, i dont know, reading a book to them? *gasp* but that would require some effort! god forbid!
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Before these companies scream \"It's grossly unfair!\" ... did they read the paper? This stuff is peer-reviewed before being published, so I'd say it's got a far better chance of being accurate than their whining.
Actually there ARE no stupid children. They may be mentally or intellectually challenged. Or special. But never stupid.
@SVreader: actually, the study included a survey that mentioned Baby Einstein videos by name, so their inclusion in the results and press releases was entirely justified, as the UofW pointed out.
What's missing from this sweet, sweet ironic stew, is that the pediatrician who did the Baby Einstein research is the same guy who did the \"Blocks make your baby smarter!\" study which came out last week.
And that study was financed by a block mfr, who is also a major Disney licensee. If only it were the same block licensee, I'd go out and buy lottery tickets with the batch numbers of those lead-tainted blocks.
What strikes me as especially hilarious is that this CEO doesn't have his own research to say, \"but no it does help.\" What he essentially replied with was a hissy fit.