You Almost Forget He’s Sort of a Douchebag
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009By Glinda
When you see him with his kids. And aren’t they handsome?
When you see him with his kids. And aren’t they handsome?
I remember when the Munchkin was born, the hottest thing for babies was the “Baby Einstein” DVD set. Actually, I wasn’t really aware of them until my mother brought them up, and told me that there was a set of ten available at Costco, and did I want them?
Well, as the sleep-deprived mother of an infant, I said yes. But really, who says no to free stuff for their kid?
I read the promotional materials that accompanied the DVD’s, all of which claimed that simply by watching puppets do things to classical music, your baby would become smarter.
Seriously.
To be honest, the Munchkin really did love watching those things, and I will admit that I would put one on when I needed to go to the bathroom or take care of something really important. I tried to limit his time with them, which I think I did successfully.
I watched all of them at some point, and I remember wondering why in the world these particular skits with puppets and things floating around the screen would make my child smart. I know that classical music has been shown to aid logical thought processes, but that was about where the educational value of those DVD’s began and ended.
Did anyone truly think they were raising their child’s IQ? And if they did, were they also the kind of parents who made their in utero baby listen to classical music via headphones? Or read Voltaire out loud, hoping that by osmosis, their baby would somehow pick it up?
Ah, the vulnerabilities of the new parent! In this competitive day and age, it seems they will stop at nothing to gain even the slightest advantage over other people, even subjecting their children to nonsensical, non-verbal, hand-made hand puppets that make the Muppets look extremely high-tech.
It seems that quite a few people did think these DVD’s were magic, and now due to pressure from a child’s advocacy group, they are offering a refund for up to four of the DVD’s, no receipt required. It says that the videos had to be purchased after 2004, but I’m hoping they aren’t really going to look, since mine were purchased in 2003.
It certainly doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s an offer well worth taking advantage of.