Baby Einstein and Brainy Babies may do more harm than good

Filed in archive Education on August 9, 2007

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Research led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dmitri Christakis of the University of Washington found out that popular baby videos "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Babies" may do more harm than good to your toddlers, by delaying language development. Although these videos were made to stimulate babies' brains and not language development, parents normally assume that improvement of language skills is included in the video's promise.

The strongest effect was on babies between 8 and 16 months, where babies scored 10% lower on language skills. These babies watched an hour per day of baby DVDs and videos and still learned 6 to 8 words fewer than babies who didn't.

"Passive screen sucking" set back toddler's development. Watching television shows, although educational, delays language development. Studies have shown that babies learn more interaction with the speaker, rather than a speaker in a video screen.

Researchers believe that videos over stimulate kids, hence kids view a high level of stimulation as normal which would eventually make reality boring.

I guess talking and interacting with our kids is still the best way to entertain and teach them. Not only will they learn a lot from you, but you also get to save money on buying these videos and paying for electricity.

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