I Hate Baby Einstein

I do. I just completely offended a coworker (sorry, it was nothing personal) by stating so when the subject came up, as after I had told her why I do, her only response was ‘well, my nephews love it.’
Well, my baby loves eating sand but that doesn’t mean that it’s good for her, or that I'm going to let her.

So, time to back it up (using my own un-scientific opinions based on lots of stuff I’ve read, intuited [word?] and experienced):

Uno, I think that television is not good for kids, but particularly not good for babies under the age of two. Childhood obesity is on the rise in Canada, and rampant in the US. Perhaps an alternative to having to use so many resources trying to re-educate, retrain and restructure a family’s life (and much of society in general) to undo this disturbing trend, is to put some of those resources towards prevention. As in, mandating healthy food be served in schools, unhealthy food be labeled with warnings, health and physical education be part of every school’s curriculum, and more after-school, summer and family-friendly activities be subsidized or better yet, free. Encourage families to eat together, at the table. Honey, We’re Killing the Kids, with its disturbing scare tactics and personalityless ‘doctor’, should not be a primary source of education. oh yeah, and turn the damn tv off.

Dos, tv is not good for a developing child’s brain. Until the age of 2, a child’s brain is at its spongiest. They need to interact, explore, unearth, question and discover the world around them. TV, even videos sold under the perilously thin guise of being ‘educational’, encourages completely passive attention. Sitting and staring at images flashing by at a frenetic speed does not help fuse synapses, and has been seen to impede the development of language, motor skills, social skills and healthy sleeping habits. I won’t even get into the toxic world of violent images.

Tres, commercials are not good for children or parents. And Baby Einstein videos are nothing but 35-minute long commercials, for the toys they feature and for other Baby Einstein videos. Marketing to children is bad news. Not only does it gear a child up to become a consumer-driven, status hungry, wasteful adult, but it turns them into brats. It makes a parent’s efforts to teach their child about wants vs. needs, the value of things and money, and how not to have a tantrum in a public place over some crap that’s going to be broken or forgotten by the next day, very difficult indeed. Kids will learn about commercialism from other kids, in the schoolyard, daycare, etc. Do they really need to be armed with that knowledge before they’re even potty-trained?

Quattro, the production value of the Baby Einstein videos is so low that it is insulting. My husband being a television editor (ironically), they would be banned from my house for that reason alone. Not ironically, I work for a great company that makes great music and dvds for adults and kids (not babies), with no untoward promises of kiddy intellect greatness, although we do retain a panel of experts to make sure that what we produce for children is appropriate. So I know what can be produced and sold for $15. Now, let’s get something straight – I am not trying to boost the cache of my company. I won’t even tell you who they are, or say that our stuff is made with care and integrity and everybody else’s is shit. Just trust me when I say that the money disney is making off of the sale of these dvds (based on the production value and quantity produced) is insanity. And mickey doesn’t need your bucks. He needs a good art director.


Cincqo (sp?), Baby Einstein markets itself as educational, good for babies, a tool for parents. Is watching an image of a toy really better than playing with one? Is some unknown, unseen person’s hand manipulating the on-screen toy really a good substitute for your own? Is watching ‘music’ being made on the tube better than a child discovering their own rhythm and song in the vast array of ‘instruments’ around them? Is looking at some other mother’s face really better than looking at you? Also, I think that these claims falsely inflate a parent’s expectation of their child’s intellectual development. What happens if, despite hours spent watching, playing with and listening to educational ‘tools’, your kid walks later than other babies. Or talks later. Or can’t get the rings onto the base even though your sister’s baby can. Or does kinda lousy in school. Will that parent be disappointed, and if so, will it be in the child?

Listen, the tv in my house is not always off when my baby is around (I watch my share, but it is after bee is in bed, because really, until then, what’s the point?). I understand the need to park her there sometimes, dear god, so I can just finish getting her breakfast ready, or have her stop squirming so that I can just do up the diaper already without turning these things into half-an-hour ordeals because my munchkin won’t let go of my leg or leave the cat (or cat food) alone. Sometimes I just have to go pee. Sometimes I just need the entrancing, enchanting, all-encompassing lure of the tube for a few minutes so that I can get some food in me.
But I don’t put on baby einstein videos, or any tv show with commercials. Public television where I live is great; all morning they show ‘kids’’ shows that are anywhere from 5-15 minutes in length, and I sometimes employ this station for a few minutes. We’ve even sat and watched zaboomafoo together, because bumblebee loves the animals, and I love the kratt brothers.

I’m not saying that my house will be a tv-free zone, though my hubs in particular would love it to be. Not sure I’m ready to give up so you think you can dance or 90210 reruns yet. But we do try to strike a balance, set limits and strive to be good role models insofar as how we spend our leisure time. But, you bet your ass that my house is a Baby Einstein-free zone, and I bet the real Einstein would be glad.

*For more, and more eloquent, information on this subject, check out Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and this article previously published in Mothering magazine, or the plethora of information out there from real experts on the subject.