You may choose the dueling weapon. I shall be waiting for you, sir, out behind Mr. Hooper's.

Oh well.

Look here:
[tinyurl.com]

Yum, fake cheese and sugar water...food o' the gods.

Sounds like Aigner-Clark made it cause her baby liked it and didn't originally think it would make babies into geniuses. The genius part was the work of sleazy marketers.

No, it's cause of genetics and how you raised them and in spite of Baby Einstein.

I went to my local library and rented about 45 baby Einstein DVDs and brought them back for my firstborn. I was skeptical at first... Then I sat my daughter in front of the first one and this really creepy freakin puppet jumped up on the screen and she stopped, stared for 5 seconds, then proceeded to belt out the worst scream I had ever heard in my life.

I guess she was smart enough to know to stay away from people that have creepy puppets like that in their house.

The board books were good though, I remember both boys as babies liked those.

I refuse to eat Kraft American Cheese Singles and drink Kool Aid while watching though...I don't need ALL my childhood memories crushed!!

People just assumed they were making claims that simply aren't there if you look for them.

@yasth: Not really. Go read the actual research. I'll just repost a previous comment on this topic:
It is worth noting that the actual research purported to answer nothing, see the related links. Consider that they looked at one aspect of a child's life and made a sweeping causal statement. I am not sure basing your parenting style off this "research" is any better than basing it off Disney's word. The NY Times piece does not really even identify the impact. 6 to 8 words less for every hour… What does that mean? Out of how many words on average?

The bigger concern for me is that I see many comments justifying their use of these products. It goes to show how worried we are about how others will perceive our parenting. As if we need an excuse to occupy our children for an hour; to maintain our sanity. My wife and I used them. No excuses needed. Our kids are fine 5 years later. As long as you love your kids, they will be fine.

@downwithmonstercable: While I don't claim to know any research about making a baby smarter, I know a little about music therapy and it's fascinating what people can accomplish with it. So it might not be that much of a stretch to think classical music at such a young age could be somewhat beneficial.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two do not watch any t.v. So, not sure how these videos aimed at babies are supposed to be good for them.

@Platypi: That was the whole argument against Baby Einstein videos, though. For example, I've sat my daughter on my lap and showed an iTunes visualizer to her for one or two songs. Before I played it, she was looking around being a happy baby observing her surroundings and looking briefly at the computer screen, and when I turned it on she just shut down and stared vacantly at the screen. I don't think she moved for a couple minutes and then I stopped it.

There are those sections in the BE videos where the flashing lights dance around on screen, and that just hypnotizes the child. Studies showed that essentially they would become oblivious to the outside world and just... stare.

I would much rather put my baby down in front of the TV for a few minutes while I do the laundry or some brief work than a BE video. At least she looks away and plays around some of the time instead of just staring at the screen for 20-30 min straight.

"Disney asks UW to retract 'irresponsible' statement on baby videos"

The Walt Disney Co. called on the University of Washington on Monday to retract a news release of a study on videos for infants, calling it "misleading, irresponsible and derogatory."

[www.seattlepi.com]

@Rachacha: I think this is the right place/market for BE products.

It's not a self-service education. It's a tool, to be used with other forms of interaction, toys, mobiles, play, talking, reading, etc. that you can use to raise your kids.

It's also a better alternative to a typical cartoon when you want to TEMPORARILY entertain your kids while you do something else.

@GitEmSteveDave_ThatChickRockingKicks: Thanks to the placebo effect getting stronger, it may very well work.

However, if you're going to claim they're homeopathic you'll probably have to start leaving your comments with one character per hundred billion blank comments.

Mr. Rogers admits he just made it up!

Let's go live to the Congressional Hearings:

"I thought children would like King Friday and my cardigan sweaters. I confess I made it all up."

[crowd gasps]

@blueneon: I have to admit that we own a couple of the Baby Einstein DVDs (I believe all were given as a gift). Our kids would occasionally watch them, but it was mostly when we needed something to attract the baby's attention (cooking dinner, or cleanig up a mess (if you drop a bottle of cooking oil on the floor, you DON'T need an infant's help), or as something for the baby to focus on if there was too much other stimulous.

We did not think that it was necessarially educational, but just a very simple DVD with a single subject on a white background with relaxing music...the perfect thing to catch a child's attention and distract them from a dangerous or messy situation.

NICE!

No I can tell my wife the Sponge Bob is just as educational as Baby Einstein!

Damn, some people have all the luck. I wonder if I can claim my comments are homeopathic, and charge people to read them......

@Xerloq, we are all made of stars.: Ah, Good ole Disney! Since this money-making scam didn't work out, they decided to make their stores child-capturing black holes! What's on the other side, you ask? Those kids as permanent Disney fixtures!

@downwithmonstercable: That was another arm of the BE empire. Frankly, the only reason to ever consider one of those CDs was that it wasn't as mind-numbingly irritating as a lot of the other "baby friendly" CDs. Could you get the same music from the Classical bargain bin, an pay 1/5th of what the BE CDs cost? Yes.

Of course, once I found out that my kid likes They Might Be Giants and The Ramones, we moved past that.

@Xerloq, we are all made of stars.: Wow. You are a super parent. I am envious of your children, and I wish I could have the sense of superiority that your comment conveys. I guess this is the internet version of keeping up with the Jones...

I wish there was a video to teach kids common sense - that seems to be lacking big time nowadays, all the way up through adulthood.

My kids are now 11 and in "smartypants school" for the top 1% of kids in the district. I like to think genetics and how we raised them has something to do with their intelligence, but it COULD have been Baby Einstein!

Also, the target demographic is a little older than baby age.

My kids don't watch TV.

No, it didn't make kids stupider. It just didn't have the promised affect of making them smarter. Just because something doesn't make you smarter doesn't automatically imply that it makes you stupider. If that were the case anything people read that they don't understand would imply they are getting dumber.

@ceez: The research did not say these types of things lower IQ. It looked at a very narrow group of subjects and only looked at one variable. TV time.

I wonder if all these people that are pushing classical music CD's that make your baby smart will be next?

I dunno, my 12-month old seems to like Rock Of Love Bus and the Who Da Daddy? 44 Maury special just fine.

However, Sesame Street was free on PBS.

It also bears noting that Mrs. Aigner-Clark sold the business to Disney in 2001. The videos eligible for refund are 2004 or later. She may not have been involved in the marketing/research decisions for the eligible videos at all.

@temporaryerror: Isn't that what Sesame Street does?!?!? People paid for this too o_0

lol, all those stupid parents that love to plop their children down in front of a tv as part of their education training just got punked.

you have a stupid baby now.

Excuse my ignorance, what the hell is Baby Einstein???