Reading Response #2

31 October, 2009

Written for my ENG106 class in response to an editorial titled "Get Smart" fromUSA Today.  I could not find the original article to link, but this one is close enough.

In the Chicago Tribune article titled “Get Smart” the authors write, “We’re betting that not a lot of those Einstein vids come flying back to the stores.” I agree wholeheartedly there will not be a massive amount of parents who purchased the videos returning them to Disney for a refund. I will not be returning the two we own.

Disney’s impetus for offering the refunds on the Baby Einstein videos is to stop possible legal action from parents who feel the videos did not live up to the promises made in the advertising. Personally, I cannot recall the specific advertising on the two Baby Einstein videos we purchased. One video is on baby sign language and the other is about simple anatomy. I did not buy these two videos expecting them to turn my child into the next super genius. However, there appears to be enough parents who believed their child would be a genius if they plopped them in front of the television to cause Disney to offer the refund on any Baby Einstein videos purchased in the last five years.

When I purchased the two Baby Einstein videos we currently own, I did so with the knowledge that I as the parent would have to do my part to educate my daughter. When I wanted Meghan to learn sign language I could not rely solely on some silly DVD that played classical music. I let Meghan watch the DVD, showed her flash cards while doing the sign for the particular word on the flash card, and then used the signs when talking to her. Over time she learned a few signs, and even made up a few of her own. She never would have learned baby sign language just by watching the Baby Einstein video; as the parent, I had to do my part to teach her.

Although there are laws to protect the buyer against blatant misrepresentation in advertising from companies, I feel being dissatisfied with the Baby Einstein movies do not fall within this category. One simply cannot rely solely on a video to educate their child.

I feel television cannot be the sole source of education for our young impressionable children. Despite that, I do agree with the authors of the “Get Smart” article when they write, “Yet parents shouldn’t feel guilty about stationing their kids in front of the television for a while so they can carve out a respite from relentless parental chores.” There is nothing harmful in my daughter watching a couple of educational cartoons on PBS while I do chores. It is harmful, however, for me to expect my daughter to become a genius through her time spent watching television.

It is common knowledge that when our precious children arrive in this world they come without an instructional manual. The authors of this article stated it rather simply when they tell us that if children did come with instruction manuals it would simply remind us that if we want a happy child we need to do three things: play with them, talk to them, and read to them. I would add a fourth instruction—love them.

I surmise the majority of owners of the Baby Einstein videos will not be returning the videos because like me they realize a video does not make a genius. Alternatively, the love of parents, and the community it takes to raise a child, cultivates the desire to learn.