When my Simone was 6 months old, I was looking for some educational DVDs which she could watch on a regular basis. As much as possible, I refused to let her watch TV but since I am at work during her active hours, I cannot have full control on this especially when her adult carers themselves can’t stop from watching TV. So the best alternative I could think of is to allow her to watch ‘educational shows’.
I saw her interest in ‘TV’ when she was 4 months old. Her father was watching ‘Hulk’ the movie when she was suddenly awakened by the loud sound effects (naturally!). After the movie, we asked her what she saw and, surprisingly, she raised her two arms and made a ‘grrrrrrrr’ sound as if imitating ‘Hulk’! We couldn’t stop laughing!
I have read about ‘Baby Eintein’ DVDs in blogs and websites. I didn’t immediately go to video shops and grabbed a copy. After all, its S$16 retail price per DVD isn’t cheap so I went to ebay to look for used ones to try it out first. Fortunately, there was a huge lot (about 30 titles) of used Baby Einstein DVDs for bidding and the best thing of all is the starting bid was only a dollar! I watched this item and eventually placed my highest bid at S$60. If I won the bid, each DVD would only cost S$2. It would’ve been a steal! The bidding amount went as high as S$99 and I was willing to go all the way since it will still turn out to be a lot cheaper than buying each of the DVDs in its retail price. Unfortunately (or fortunately as I later found out!), I didn’t win. I was outbid by S$5 at the last TWO SECONDS of the bidding process!
Fast forward to a year after, I came across a Baby Einstein Mozart DVD in a leading bookstore. It costs S$14. Although I have bought a lot of other ‘educational DVDs’ for my little one like Dora the Explorer and Barney which costs a lot less than Baby Einstein, I still gave in and parted with my $14 just to try it once and for all. After all, my kiddo loves music! I played it to my toddler and as with anything new, she enjoyed it at first viewing but totally ignored it when she saw it the second time!
I must admit I was totally disappointed with the DVD. The back cover describes the DVD as –
“Acclaimed by parents, this vibrant, award-winning musical feast for little eyes and ears exposes babies to the splendor and delight of classical music. Treat yourself and your little one to mesmerizing, multi colored images accompanied by enchanting versions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most popular compositions. It’s a fun way to share the joy of discovering music — and the world — together!”
but it was nothing but a showcase of colourful and moving objects while Mozart was playing in the background! There wasn’t even a coordination of the video and the music! I really felt cheated and totally wasted my money on it!
And so when I read this news on Yahoo! on the massive recall of Baby Einstein DVDs, I wasn’t surprised at all and just glad that I only wasted my money on one DVD! I just hope Mums out there who spent on a significant amount of these Baby Einstein DVDs get refund from Disney!
It’s an important lesson for us all Mums not to be easily deceived by these ‘educational products’. Sure, all Mums want their kids to be smarter (I, too, was a victim!) so we rely on technology to help teach our kids but I guess, as always, nothing beats ‘human’ teachers and we, Mums, are always the best teachers to our little ones!
