The baby Einstein videos

[laidalays]

I'm thinking about buying the Baby Einstein videos for my baby.People who have them say they are good for kids to learn English. Do you think they are really good for teaching a second language? or do you know other better videos? Thank you

[nhockaday]

I would not buy them! They have little educational content, especially words. There are other recommendations on other threads for videos that teach English. Now, I do like the music classical music selections in them (but to get this you can also buy the corresponding CD), and the language nursery is not bad for foreign language exposure, but I definitely won't sit my son in front of them often. I did let him watch a couple when he was very young so I could take a shower, but they were ones with more words. Now that I have YBCR, and he is older, I will not show them at all!

This is what the Brillbaby website has to say about Baby Einstein. I have also read this many other places, including YBCR.
Parents should note that even DVDs marketed as educational may be harmful to babies; if they are watched without supervision, that harm is multiplied. In August 2007 Dr Dimitri Christakis and Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington published a report on the effects of popular programs such as Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby. They found that for every hour per day spent watching the DVDs, babies learnt six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who had never watched TV. Many of the programs were devoid of language content altogether. But even when it came to shows designed to enhance language acquisition, Christakis says, “Videos of native speakers of languages fail to teach children as well as live speakers do.” That’s why it’s important for an adult to speak or sing alongside the DVD being shown.


...And there are always free educational TV shows like Sesame Street.

[kmum]

Little einstein would not be my choice either. Our local news ran a story on the U of W report too.  I've seen threads on other videos on this forum that seem to be much more highly recommended.  I think the important thing is that whenever possible you should try to watch with your child, not just plunk them down in front of the TV.

[nhockaday]

I have posted this on another thread, but I figure it applies here too.
Let me shed some light on the subject from the parents' guide of YBCR.
In general, babies should not be viewing tv or baby videos; however, there are times when certain programs are appropriate. If one looks at the the variety of baby videos, it's east to see that most are passive, entertainment based DVDs designed to occupy the baby in a fun way while the parents are busy. ...This being said, children's DVDs can be helpful if all of the following conditions exist:
1. The DVD should be interactive, not passive.
2. The DVD should be multi-sensory. What the babies hear and see on the screen must go together logically. In addition, babies should be encouraged to say words they hear, and do the physical actions they see. This multi-sensory approach is very important b/c many of the baby's new connections go from the visual cortex to the auditory cortex. ...If what they hear and see do not match,....the synapses will not join logicaly....
3. The DVDs should actually teach children something of lasting value.
4. The DVDs should be designed to teach babies language skills in addition to other topics. For instance, the DVD could teach babies about shapes, but at the same time, there should be words spoken that describe the shapes....
5. Watching a DVD should be a better option than the others available for the parents.....
...If all of the above conditions are met, then please show the DVDs w/out feeling guilty b/c you are using the DVDs to help your child--not simply help yourself. Remember it is also beneficial for the parent to take a break, so please don't feel guilty about showing [the right] DVDs.

Time, Newsweek, and many other magazines have had in-depth reports on infant brain development. Most conclude the same thing--there is a window of opportunity for stimulating infants' and toddlers' brains while those brains are developing very rapidly. Remember, babies and toddlers have tens of thousands of new connections (synapses) forming in their brains each second. According to theories of brain development, young children who see language at the same time they hear the language, see and hear about the meaning of each word, and do physical actions relating to the words should have many new synapses connecting the visual cortex with the auditory cortex, somatosensory cortex, and other language areas of the brain. These connections are far more likely to have lasting value than those made while watching other baby videos. For instance, in some very popular baby videos, babies watch colorful bubbles floating around while listening to unrelated sounds.

During a half-hour video, babies have tens of millions of new connections forming in their brains--and most of them are not useful in the long-term when they are watching almost any tv show or video that has only a small amount of educational component. Over time, all these connections form the actual physical structure of your child's brain, so it's extremely important which videos you allow your child to watch.

Additionally, there are longitudinal studies showing positive effects of early stimulation, including higher IQs.Two recent U.S. presidents have encouraged parents to begin teaching their infants from birth, including reading to their infants. At the very least, the evidence suggests that stimulating your infant will lead to more useful synaptic connections in the brain, which could provide a foundation for future learning.

[laidalays]

Thank you very much for your answer Nhockaday . You seem to know so much about everything! I'm learning so much in this forum. I'm quite happy of having people like you as fellow members. Karma to you and thank you again. I definitely won't buy the Baby Einstein videos. What DVDs do you advise me to buy?

[nhockaday]

It depends on what your goals are? Let me know and I can try to help.
I highly recommend Your Baby Can Read for early reading. There is a 5 DVD set that is watched over many months. You can also buy companion flash cards and books if you have the money. http://www.yourbabycanread.com. They have many different packages available, or you can buy from amazon or ebay and save some money! But if you want the complete package (flash cards and all) you will probably have to buy directly from YBCR.

Many members here are using this, and their kids love it. It's one of the ways KL taught Felicity to read at such a young age!

[Bebita]

There's an article on the subject of Einstein videos called 'Not so smart after all' at: 
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html?cnn=yes

[littlemamapuz]

Before I had found out about YBCR, I bought the Einstein videos.  I can say my ds did enjoy watching them but they are not that educational when you compare the two.  I will be selling them on ebay soon to get some extra Christmas money.

[nhockaday]

The good thing is that they sell well on ebay! So many parents buy them thinking they are doing a wonderful thing for their child. Now don't get me wrong, I do like some of their other products, just not the videos.

[KL]

There was one DVD we really liked and made use of often. It was one which had many foreign languages. I even recorded the audio track and burned it onto CD so we could play it during pregnancy.

[nhockaday]

Yeah, that one is good. I think it has poetry or stories in foreign languages.

[Nikolett]

I got a set of at least 10 of  them as a present.  I can say  I liked the music ones and art. I don't think they are very helpful developmentally,I used them as lullabies for nap times when my kids were very young (instead  of rocking them to sleep). Later we just switched to audio CDs.

[texaslady22]

I, personally, think the Baby Einstein videos are good for nothing except babysitting your child while you're busy with something else. Kids love them, but there's absolutely no content. Silly puppets and very, very little language (maybe 10-20 words per video).

I do like Little Einsteins - I love that the kids talk with such nice vocabulary and play classical music. My son loves it, too.

Most libraries have Baby Einstein videos...you might want to check one out and "try before you buy"

[ksomom]

My daughter doesn't even like the Baby Einstein videos and I'm glad.  I've always wondered what the hype was about and didn't really see a lot of value in them, at least not for what one could end up spending on a full set of them.  I agree with texaslady22, that I find many of them to be more designed as a "babysitter"- although I also agree with other people that there are some that are better than others, and some that even seem to have real value.  We borrowed one from the library that's about physical movements.  I haven't watched it with her yet, but she really loves to be physical, so I thought we'd check this one out. 

Her favorite DVD (by far!) is My Baby Can Talk.  It's actually the only ones she will watch and I've discovered that she learns something from them every time.  They are signing videos and she consistently improves on her ability to do a sign or picks up a new one (or two or three!) each time.  In fact, she learns them so quickly that I have difficulty keeping up in understanding her because I'm learning them too!  I ALWAYS sit with her and talk about what's on the screen, so I don't know if that helps.  I think these are very well done and highly recommend them to people with children that are around 12-18 months (at least- maybe other ages too, but this is the age range my daughter is in, so it's the only one I can vouch for with any real level of confidence). 

[rixu]

There was one DVD we really liked and made use of often. It was one which had many foreign languages. I even recorded the audio track and burned it onto CD so we could play it during pregnancy.

can you tell us about the cd?

i think it would be good to introduce our babies

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