Genius BabiesBy: Megan SironenEDU 234July 3, 2012

General Overview Videos for parents to start

showing to their children around 2 months old

Shorter in length then most children’s videos

Almost no spoken language during the show

Languages introduced: French, German, Hebrew, Russian, English and more

Introduces colors, music, numbers, letters, basic words

How It All Started Started by a stay-at-home mom named, Julie Aigner-Clark in

1996. She wanted to get her daughters into art and music and

couldn’t find anything that she felt was developmentally appropriate for them

She started with a single video made at home with her two daughters and husband.

By 2000, the franchise was worth $10 million In 2001, Disney bought the Baby Einstein series In 2005, Disney started the line of toys and clothing to

accompany the video series In 2007, Baby Einstein was named in the State of the Union

Address by President Bush

Initial Pediatric Studies In 2007, Journal of Pediatrics came

out with their findings on the “Baby Genius” program

Drs. Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis, and Andrew Meltzoff did a study with parents to find out how their children from 2-24 months testing in areas including language, music, art, reading, and math.

The studies found no significant change in development from those children that were not on the program

The doctors came out with statements telling parents that the effects are not enough to help nor hinder a child’s development.

The Studies Results Babies who spent more time watching TV had

lower language and visual motor skills at age 3 The more time children spend in front of the TV

as babies they “learn to watch TV” and as they get older they will watch more TV and snack in front of the TV and it becomes a conjunction problem

Infants that spend even just one hour a day in front of the TV have a 65% chance of being over weight as adolescents

The Impact from the Studies In 2007, Disney started to question the studies done

by the University studies. In 2008, Children’s Hospital in Boston and Harvard

University came out with their statement about the programs, stating that “neither beneficial nor deleterious to child cognitive and language abilities”

In 2009, Disney offered full refunds for any family that has purchased the “Baby Einstein” videos since Disney had taken control over it.

In 2010, Julie Clark asked a judge for access to University of Wahington’s raw data so they could compile a study of her own to duplicate or disprove the original study.

The Pros Colorful images Introduces many

different languages to children when language is developing

Holds most infants attention

Introduces letters Introduces sounds

The Cons Many parts have unrelated pictures and

speech Languages are not explained, so they

become confusing Slow to explain Disconnected for children without

parent interaction for explanation

Recommendations from Pediatricians Pediatricians say to use blocks,

puzzles, and books to teach Spend “face time”: which means

that you are spending more time one on one with your children then they are spending in front of the TV or computer

“It’s a tried and true way of teaching your children, get them outside and spending time with friends”

Learn to make time for your children and even if you, as a parent, are allowing TV time, use it with your children and teach them using it

Don’t allow your children to just sit in front of the TV

Positive Parental Review “My son of 18 months has been watching these

videos since he was 2 months old. At that young age, the music kept him content. We have the entire series and he has enjoyed every video. Now that he's a little older he especially likes the Shakespeare and Van Gogh videos. He laughs at the puppets and enjoys watching the children in the videos. These two videos are especially colorful and artistic. We recently purchased the newest Baby Dolittle video and found our last trip to the zoo to be even more enjoyable as he pointed out animals he recognized from the video.”

Negative Parental Review “I will be honest. Our son loves Baby Mozart, Baby Bach, and

Baby Shakespeare. The music on them is delightful and the videography is great. The toys and objects are shot in such a way that they get a baby's and toddler's attention. But, I find that they are not as mesmerizing as the Barney, Elmo, etc. TV stuff is. Now, for Baby Einstein. The concept is good, but in execution, it didn't work for our son. Listening to moms speak in a dozen languages bored our son. And the videography is not well done, so the images don't get a child's attention. This was the first tape in the series; the others are far better. We ended up consigning this tape. But, I am about to buy the new Baby Van Gogh, so I really do like the products from this company--just not this particular tape.”

Schemes Many researchers are saying that these

programs are just a “get rich quick scheme”

They tell parents that their children are “stupid” and they can put the children right to the top of the class

This business is a $17 billion marketing scheme for the TV companies

TV Free World Parents should not being using the

TV to babysit their children and this program is based in video watching

Making sure children have interaction is what children at that age need most

American Academy of Pediatrics states that children under the age of 2 should not have any time in front of the TV

Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, study shows that for every 1 hour of TV time per day for children in preschool, that the chances of being diagnosed with Attention Disorders goes up by 10% by the age of 7

My Review Looking through the parent reviews it does

seem that many parents are very happy with the outcome from the Baby Genius programs

Parents, however, did seem like they were using it as a babysitter and using it for their children to sit and watch versus using it in conjunction

Despite all the research done by doctors and students, parents are still looking at this as though it really is a “quick fix” to make their children instantly smarter

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