The best educational toy for toddlers
Joelle - a Practical Parent Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 3:00PM Disney is offering exchanges for books and CDs for people who bought Baby Einstein DVDs from June 5, 2004 and September 4, 2009 as educational aids. Because they aren't educational at all - and studies show that children under 2 who watch DVDs (any DVDs) have a smaller vocabulary than their peers. I remember when these were "all the rage". Besides the fact that the music and the imagery made me a bit batty, I found research where the logic was so rational and obvious that I was sure these were not good for kids.
If you want details on the rationale for the Disney guarantee, Thingamababy has a great write up.
When my eldest was born, I became a voracious reader on the development of children's brains - particularly boy brains since I didn't have brothers, male cousins or any other exposure to little boys growing up - except in school where we each had sufficient cooties to stay separated. Check out Our Resources for my brief reading list.
What I learned was that any sort of electronic play - DVDs, games, read to me books - create too narrow a range of responses. In effect, they are thwarting creativity and imaginary play. So the very best toy, according to What's Going on in There, are wood blocks. Classic, quiet and endless fun.
Joelle - a Practical Parent
This was an interesting link about developmentally appropriate and advantageous toys and why they are so.
Parenting Philosophy, toys
Reader Comments (7)
Look, we all rely on electronics sometimes, but I think we need to be clear about why we're doing it. We can't really believe it's actually educational. If you want educational, read to your kids. If you need a break or need to get something done, don't kill yourself for sometimes putting the evil screen on!
Wood blocks, legos, crayons and paper -- all excellent and fun toys for learning and creativity.
I bought my dvds too early for the discount, but my husband always found them very soothing and sleep inducing at least for him, so maybe money well spent!
Interesting. We love our wood blocks but the girls did love the Baby Enstein video. They watched them while in the car. Josephine loves to talk and she just tells stories one after the other and uses big words. Juliet who has DS is not that verbal. I do limit the time in front of tv and movies and did not let them watch anything for 17 months (then a trip to Florida and needed help). I would love to see the statistics.
I always thought the name Baby Einstein sounded really gimmicky. They probably would have had more credibility with me if they had some more mediocre name. We have a few of their books but never tried the DVDs.
Isaac never liked Baby Einstein DVDs. I bought one to try, and he was duly unimpressed. Frankly, they freaked me out - like someone was on a long strange acid trip. Szerena was exposed to much more PBS TV before age 2, due to having an older brother. But (for those who know her) that hasn't limited her speaking prowess or vocabulary at all.
Unfortunately, I loaned out my copy of Lise Eliot's book - and the stats she used aren't showing up in the search engine - I'll look for the copy or I'm sure your library has it.
I think Shira is right - there's nothing wrong with some DVD time - as long as you are honest that it's for entertainment/babysitting and not to educate the child. If most of their time is spent interacting with people, they'll be fine.
I wonder how Einstein himself became that smart, without having these videos to watch?
There's another great book - Einstein Never Used Flashcards http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Never-Used-Flash-Cards/dp/1579546951 - that asks the same question.
It's the obvious and simple things that help a child develop - interaction with people, especially parents. Freedom to experiment and fail. Challenges to overcome - that are hard enough to be worth overcoming.
There are no short-cuts. And our children's successes depend a whole lot on our children - their intellect, temperment and drive - we're just shaping them on the margins and helping them become people who contribute to society. And I know I'm trying to teach them the skills to make a happy life out of whatever circumstances present.