Brainy Babies?

Quart, Allissa. "Extreme Parenting?" The Atlantic Wire. The Atlantic Monthly. July/August 2008. Web. February 2009.
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In her article, "Extreme Parenting", Allissa Quart focuses on a trend that has developed since the 1990's. Parents are being pressured more and more to try to develop "gifted" children by using educational videos like Baby Einstien to stimulate them at a very early age. Quart describes numerous videos and learning systems that are being marketed to parents.The developers of videos like these point to a study by Shaw and Rauscher which showed that adults performed tasks better after listening to Mozart. Product developers claim that babies will develop higher IQ's as a result of watching their videos and using their flashcards. They also claim that there is a small window of opportunity and if parents don't provide their babies with these videos at a very early age, it will be too late. Quart points out that the results of the Shaw and Rauscher study have not been successfully duplicated and there is no proof that the "Mozart Effect" works on young children. She poses the question, " Whose purpose do these types of early education products serve?" After quoting the makers pitching their products, Quart quotes other experts with opposing ideas. The neurologists, cognitive scientists, psychologists and child development specialists she interviewed did not think these products were valuable. They questioned not only the "window of opportunity" idea, but they also said that the videos could actually be damaging. Too much stimulation is not good. There is value in boredom for the development of a child's ability to think. These products can also cause children to be too television oriented and take away from their valuable outdoor playtime.

Allissa Quart says that even though there is not much evidence of any real value in educational videos for babies, it is understandable that parents would buy them. She points out that parents want to do anything and everything that will help their children get ahead in life. If they are told that these videos will raise their child's IQ and that they only have a short period of time to have an impact, many parents will ignore the lack of evidence. Most of these educational systems are fairly expensive and Quart points out that the children who use these products are usually from fairly affluent families. In many cases. competitive parents are hoping the videos and flashcards will give their children an advantage over other children in society. To answer Quart's question, "Whose purpose do these products serve?', she seems to imply that it is not the babies who will benefit, but the companies who make the products and the parents who want to feel like they are doing everything they can to give their children an advantage in life. She believes that the development of and demand for "edutainment" products is just getting started.