alexist

Now, confession: I like some of Baby Einstein's products. Before I actually had a baby I didn't really like the whole idea; it seemed to smack of competitive parenting. Then I discovered that some of their toys really are very good. I'm still not keen on the whole DVDs for kids part, though, and the following quote from their web page is just... well...

"That being said, The Baby Einstein Company is aware of the ongoing discussions regarding children and television viewing, particularly as it pertains to infants under the age of two years old. And, while we respect the American Academy of Pediatrics, we do not believe that their recommendation of no television for children under the age of two reflects the reality of today’s parents, families and households – for example, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 68% of all babies under two years old watch screen media on any given day. The Baby Einstein Company believes that when used properly, developmentally-appropriate video content can be a useful tool for parents and little ones to enjoy together."

(from http://www.babyeinstein.com/about/01-01_aboutus.asp)

So, parents ignore the AAP, so we'll help them! Not that I expected anything else--they want to sell their products. Still, it's a lovely piece of self-justification.

BTW, if you go to "products by age" and click on "birth and up", one of the items is the Baby Einstein Ultimate DVD collection ($369.99). For goodness' sakes, babies can't even see far enough to watch TV till they're a few months old. Not that I would let Aliza watch TV yet either. She's seen it of course, as I'm not enough of an extremist not to watch it when she's in the room, but she's never been sat in front of it. And she won't be for a long time yet. My mother was really strict about TV with me and I think it was good. You can really notice the difference with my youngest sister who was allowed to watch a lot more, and became much more of a TV junkie.