nammamane

Three months before my little one was born, I bought the Baby Einstein 20 DVD set on Ebay. I was so convinced that I would need them. There was no reasoning really. Just that I had “heard” a lot about them. I did not question myself much at all.

Out pops my baby and something happens…I start to question EVERYTHING.

E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I hear that having babies does this to us ( amongst other things ;))

And so, I questioned Einstein. Baby Einstein.
I questioned it quietly though …within the confines of my brain and my home. I did not want to engage in any debate before I had the Einstein experience myself. I watched a couple of dvds and had Savi watch them too. She just stared. She was mildly captivated. She did not coo or laugh when she watched them. It did not seem like a big deal. I was secretly relieved …;)

As the weeks pass, my little one is less and less interested in the Baby Einstein dvds. (Oh no! she is not going to be a genius ;)). She loves watching the dogs and the cat instead. She bursts into laughter when the dogs get close to her. She is all smiles when I enact her nursery rhymes ….

So, I had forgotten all Baby Einstein until I talked about it with a friend a couple of nights back. I googled all around and found a pretty thorough article on the Mothering website. It is a great read. While(unlike the author Ann) I am not set one way or the other about my kids watching TV, I do believe that my child does not yet need to watch TV since there is plenty she can learn just by interacting with us on a daily basis. I have no justifiable NEED for Baby Einstein.

So for now, I choose to shelve the Baby Einstein DVDs. But I would like to hear from folk who think their babies actually benefited in definite ways from watching these DVDs and why? I wonder if there is a way to give my little one the minimum amount of time with Einstein to make sure that she will be a “well-rounded genius” ?? Okay, that is an oxymoron …but you know what I mean ;)
Or do people out there think I should shelve these DVDs forever and forget they even existed???