My daughter watches Baby Einstein. She has since she was a teeny tiny baby, three weeks old to be precise. It would be easy to tell me that is too young to be watching DVD’s and before I had her I would have thought the same. It started like this, my dad had a co-worker at work who recommended Baby Einstein for infants. I thought it was crazy. I didn’t think a baby would watch TV especially a co-worker’s three month old.
However, due to extreme curiousity and the knowledge that these videos were supposed to make the babies smart, I bought one Baby Einstein videos. At the time my parents were telling me about Baby Einstein, I was on the cell phone at a grocery store and happened to pass by a Baby Einstein Baby Neptune VHS. It was around $6 on sale, so I thought why not?
I brought the VHS home and assumed that I would have my baby watch it when she was older. However, curiousity got the best of me. I thought, why not try letting her watch it? It couldn’t hurt. I was assuming that my daughter would have no interest in the VHS tape whatsoever and I would sleep peacefully knowing I was right all along. To my stunned amazement, my daughter not only watched it but enjoyed it with intensity. Her eyes got wide and she sat and watched the entire 30 minute VHS. She especially loved the part where the octopus blew a bubble out of his mouth and she attempted to copy it. I told her she would never be able to blow big bubbles out of her mouth like that so she might as well not try it. She has proven me wrong. Her practicing has paid off. Now months later, she can blow bubbles and she is still under a year! She blows bubbles like the video in a way that neither my husband or I can mimic.
However, my daughter’s fascination with this (and other Baby Einstein videos) has paid off and not just because she has learned how to blow big bubbles. Baby Einstein has a fascinating way of teaching children through their DVD’s and videos. Yes, I too have misgivings about setting my baby in front of the TV due to eye strain and other concerns.
However, I bypassed these personal misgivings because I believe that we should watch our children and find out what fascinates them. The things that fascinate our children are probably teaching them about the topics they are interested in. It just so happens that my three week old had an intense fascination with these DVD’s and still loves them to this day. Yes, I try to limit watching the DVD’s for obvious concerns. Yet, I am amazed with how watching these videos has helped her learn in various ways.
Word Recognition
The first way I have noticed the DVD’s teach her is through word recognition. The DVD’s mention a word and my baby repeats the word. I was stunned the first time she said, “ball” or “bowl” when the object appeared on the screen. The narrator sometimes mentions an object and other times the object shows up on the screen without mention of the object name. During these times, I will often say the name of the object to her.
“Mozart Effect”
The next way the Baby Einstein videos seek to help my daughter learn is through playing classical music in the background of each of the DVD’s. There is the Baby Mozart DVD (which plays Mozart’s music in the background), Baby Beethoven and Baby Bach. Each of these plays the music of the artist during the course of the DVD. My baby is not only listening to classical music, but I have found that I can now recognize which music is by which artist.
There is something called the “Mozart Effect” that is supposed to increase babies intellegence when they listen to classical music. I was synical of this so called, “Mozart Effect”. However as any first mom, I wanted to expose my child to classical music in case it was true and while I was pregnant I remember praying while I was pregnant that I would find some way to introduce my baby to classical music since I am not a huge fan of it. These DVD’s that my daughter was fascinated with offered this opportunity. The “Mozart Effect” is a study that was done which states that babies who listened to classical music (like Mozart) had an increase in their intellegence. From my experience with my daughter, I do think that listening to the DVD’s has enhanced her IQ. She seems to have an accute awareness of the world around her at a very young age. Yet, I do realize that as she is my child, I may be bias! However, like any parent who finds something that works well, I will use these DVD’s with future kids.
Early Exposure to Languages, Animals, Places and Culture
Baby Einstein has a DVD on languages (“Language Nursery”) and two DVD’s that teach Sign Language (one DVD is called, “My First Signs”). There is a DVD about vehicles (my daughter loves the cars) called “On the Go” and a DVD that introduces Shakespeare (Called “Baby Shakespeare”). There are DVD’s that teach about paintings of famous painters like “Baby Da Vinci”, “Baby Monet”, and “Baby Van Gogh”. There are also DVD’s that teach about animals, scientists, astronomy, the orchestra, numbers, water (“Baby Neptune”) and words. The DVD’s teach about all of these topics in a very simplistic format. My baby is learning and at the same time I find I learn a few new things too!
If you are looking for something that is entertaining, soothing and will help both you and your baby learn, I recommend buying a Baby Einstein video. We have the entire set, and my daughter changes her Baby Einstein DVD preference every few months as her learning interests expand and grow. The Baby Einstein website recommends certain DVD’s for certain ages. However, the only Baby Einstein DVD my daughter was interested for the first several months of life was, “Baby Neptune”. She also did not follow the prescribed age recommendations and although “Baby Mozart” is recommended for the early stages of baby development, she hasn’t ever liked it much.
One of my mom’s friends who is from South Africa, said that she feels that the children in America are very intellegent. She said that in South Africa (even amongst the wealthy land owners), the people of South Africa do not buy their children many toys. She attributes the intellegence of American children to the many educational toys, games and videos we have access too. When my mom told me this, it made me feel less guilty. I can teach my child with videos, dvds and wonderful educational toys (like “Ball Party” by Tomy) and not feel guilty about it!
My daughter loves music, sound and words which I believe is the reason she likes the videos so much. She loves watching “Baby Einstein” while bouncing up and down in her Jumperoo. She is not only learning but she is getting her exercise too! There is also research that says that people receive a certain pain anesthetic from watching TV and videos (sometimes as much as popping some Tylenol). Because of this, I found that these DVD’s have been invaluable when she is teething. I have never been fond of giving a lot of medication to my child and often a “Baby Einstein” DVD or video has stopped the tears. As with everything in life, Baby Einstein DVD’s are a great tool to increase a child’s IQ and intellegence when used in moderation. This is my review on one of the many tools I use to entertain, teach and train my child.
