“Hi, I’m Julie Clark, founder of The Baby Einstein Company…”
More women have gotten naked to the sound of Julie’s voice than to the sound of Barry White, Marvin Gaye and Steve Perry’s voice combined. Why? That’s how every Baby Einstein video begins and it has been the cue for a lot of moms that it’s now time to take a shower. I would pop in Baby Mozart or Baby Beethoven just to get a break from my little bundle of joy and get squeaky clean, not because I really believed my kid would grow up to be genius because she watched it.
Last week Disney, who bought the Baby Einstein brand from Julie Clark in 2001, is offering a refund to consumers of the video series because—surprise—it won’t make your baby smarter. The FTC says this in their statement, “There’s no credible evidence that screen media can educate infants.”
Yeah, we kinda knew that already FTC, but have you ever gone four weeks without shaving your legs or eight hours without talking to another adult? I thought not…I liked Baby Einstein and used it strictly for the thrill of being clean. It was a benefit to me to not look like a swamp monster when my husband came home from work. That was the value. Give us moms a little credit here FTC, “educating infants” wasn’t the goal here, Sillies.
I suppose the alternative to Baby Einstein would have been letting my baby stare out the window for 20 minutes or play with my hair dryer and bobby pins until I was done freshening up, but, to be honest, I kinda liked those little puppets and the music of Baby Einstein served as the soundtrack to my little respite from momminess.
It’s not like I plopped my baby in front of the tube for hours on end (well, there was that one day…) and thought I was doing her a solid by giving her a jump start on her education: Moving her well ahead of her diaper-clad friends. I always knew it was just a distraction, a little amusement for her while mommy “got ready.”
Compared to the other “screen media” like Barney and The Wiggles, Baby Einstein was bearable to watch and the music was…well, classical. The only thing that annoyed me about the video series was the fact that I didn’t think of it myself, market it, and sell it to Disney for millions.
So, you might have clued in, I won’t be cashing in on Disney’s offer to refund my money. In fact, I want to give a BIG shout out to Disney and especially Julie Clark for keeping me clean and (occasionally) coifed during the baby years—Thanks! Oh, and Julie, if you ever put out your own CD, please do a duet with Steve Perry, women around the nation will go wild for it!
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This was written for my blog at OC Family. Head on over there to see what you’re missing.
I had such a laugh over this one. That was a real news flash. Not.
I’m sure it would be more work than it was worth to get the money back anyways! Yeah, I’m totally in the same boat. I didn’t think it would make them smarter, but it gave me a nice reprieve when needed.
Love, love , love Baby Einstein, I bet I have them all. My boys still like them and watch them in the car. They specifically ask to watch the “Baby Songs” video. I like the music as well so it’s a win-win for me.
Like you I am just upset I did not think of it and definitely used it to get a shower every other day (LOL)!
i second that! cheers to Julie!
i admit… there were more than just a couple of days i plopped my daughters in front of Baby Einstein… yep i did that!
but they LOVED them… and i know they learned from them!
mommy got to shower… they got to yell out names of all the fun animals running across the screen!
refund… i think i might owe HER.
My thoughts exactly. Why would anyone think that TV would be the best education for their kids anyway?
BEing childless and all… am I expected to keep my legs shaved? If thats the case I don’t know what’ll happen when I have kids…..
Agreed. 100%!
Yep. Loved those videos. They were the only thing my youngest would respond to when he had night terrors. I won’t be asking for my money back either-I think they were worth their weight in gold!
My daughter was never interested in B.E. If the Backyardigans give refunds any time soon I’ll pass them up, because she is still fixated on that one. I LOLed at the picture too. 🙂
Great take on a hot topic around our house (with my teacher wife)…completely agree on your take, nice job.
and i thought i was the only one “using” baby einstein that way! 🙂
anyone actually taking them up on their refund would be sad – i second your kudos to julie!!! thanks for saying what we all were thinking!
take care!
I didn’t think the DVDs were going to give my girl an advantage on her Ivy League college applications, but I did like that classical music, real works of art, and simple concepts were put together in a thoughtful way. I’m guessing all of that is lost on a baby’s mind anyway. They just like the puppets.
Great, great post Suz!! Oh please to Disney…who are they trying to kid? Go Julie!
I wonder if this is why they took Little Einsteins away, too. I haven’t seen them on tv lately – my kids always love that show – but I noticed they’ve put all the toys on sale at the stores. Interesting.
I’m totally with you on this one! 😀
O.m.g I love that pic. Emal that to me pleeees if you said yes yaaay 😀 you no war to find me bye! 😀 😀 😀
Bwa ha ha! Love it. I am soooo stocking up on Baby Einstein DVDs.
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