If you have purchased Baby Einstein DVDs, you should know that you can get a refund for any videos you’ve purchased. the AP is reporting that, “The Walt Disney Co. [which acquired the Baby Einstein company in 2001] is expanding a refund program for its Baby Einstein videos for toddlers in response to challenges about the legitimacy of its educational claims.” This follows the threat of a class-action lawsuit by an advocacy group, the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood, which had complained to the FTC back in 2006 about Baby Einstein claims that videos could teach words to babies less than two, which is not supported by scientific research.The Director of the group said, “We see it as an acknowledgment by the leading baby video company that baby videos are not educational, and we hope other baby media companies will follow suit by offering refunds.”
We’ve mentioned on this site about the importance of unstructured play in terms of enhancing development for young children. Instead of more DVDs and gadgets and gizmos to teach lower level brain functions like letter recognition, young children need stimulation and creativity that comes from problem solving, discovering the world around them and how it works, the building blocks of physics, math and a scientific understanding of the world. In an earlier post, we mentioned educational activities for toddlers and preschoolers around the home to stimulate your little scientist in training.
