Baby Eintsteins

While flipping through the stations on a Tuesday afternoon, I found my way to Nick Jr. My channel surfing was halted by a combination of vibrant colors, giant hairy puppets, and repetitive music. "Who in their right mind would let their kids watch this garbage?" I thought to myself as a combination of the giant hairy puppets sang a song about "a party in their tummy." This got me to thinking about the effects of television on the attention spans of developing children. There are even television shows which are specifically crated to make your baby smarter, such as the "Brainy Baby" and "Baby Einstein" series'.

The "Brainy Baby" video series includes titles such as "Right Brain," "Left Brain," and "Bilingual Baby." Many parents hope that by plopping their kids in front of one of these cinematic experiences will sharpen the mind of their child. However, a study from the University of Washington found that exposing children to these videos actually did the opposite.

Yes, that's right. "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" actually had negative effects among those tested. The study explains that in a group of about six hundred babies, "for every hour a day that babies eight to sixteen months old were shown such popular series as 'Brainy Baby' or 'Baby Einstein,' they knew six to eight fewer words than other children."

Using in the hopes of making your baby smarter, actually had adverse effects to their vocabulary. This makes sense when you consider that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children less than two years old should watch no TV at all.

The study notes that the videos are "designed to engage a baby's attention, hop from scene to scene with minimal dialogue and include mesmerizing images, like a lava lamp." So while your child may look like they are in the midst of deep thought while pondering the minutia of their children's programming, they are only attracted to the visuals much like mosquitoes to a bug-zapper.

What actually does improve the intelligence of your baby is interaction. Reading to children and telling them stories provides many more benefits than plopping them in front of the boob tube. The AAP states that reading aloud to your children helps shape the architecture of their developing brains. It is also noted that "Repetitive use of cognitive skills associated with reading aloud, ensure that associated brain connections persist.

So please, keep your kids away from the TV. Just because there is a multitude of programs on television catered towards children, doesn't mean they should be watched.