Description

A recent study casts the value of the Baby Einstein videos into doubt. The dads pile on poor ailing Disney. Are these dvd's really so bad for your infant? Do corporate media giants really deserve our scorn? Is college football a healthier television option?

Transcript

Clay: Welcome to the Dad Lounge, I’m Daddy Clay. Brad: I’m Daddy Brad. Clay: And on this week’s show, we’ll going to be talking about how Einstein will make your children more stupider. Brad: More stupider? Clay: Most stupidest. Brad: Most Stupidest. Yes. Clay: Quite stupider. Actually a recent study from the University of Washington has shown conclusively that watching baby Einstein and brainy baby videos will actually make your child dumber. The result was showing those DVDs to children 8-16 months old for an hour a day results in the loss of 6-8 words from their vocabulary. Brad: So if they watch 10 hours a day, 60, 70, 80 hundred words. Clay: Negative words. Actually may set their speech back sometimes in their teens. Actually makes the peanuts stupider. Brad: Who knew? Clay: Which has got all the Disney marketers extremely happy. The director of the study said as follows, I would rather babies watch American Idol than these videos. Brad: I like American Idol. Clay: Bringing endorsement for the Disney folks. Explaining that there was at least a chance that parents would watch the American Idol with their children, which does have developmental effects. Brad: Maybe if Paula Abdul was on their spin in a top and listening to some R and B Clay: But my question, who really thought that parking your nine month old in front of the television for an hour was good for their health? Brad: Obviously a lot of people. I mean, Einstein is the fifth highest grossing dead celebrity not alive today. Clay: I mean other than Don, our producer, who actually did that? But he’s a good dad. But you know, I’m hoping that nobody comes up with a study that says the same thing about college football. Brad: Oh no. Clay: That’ll be disastrous. Because my favorite technique when my kids were babies, right before nap time, you got to grab that kid. Before it falls asleep in the crib, grab it on your chest in front of the TV college game on, kick off baby asleep, you’re absolutely bullet proof. You’re honeydew proof, because your wife shows up, usually she’s crampy, she got, there you are with the baby, ahh. Brad: Yeah, but, watch out for fourth in one, right here and really bad. Clay: So I don’t think that study’s going to work, which is a good thing. But, you know, I don’t like these products. I don’t like any of these products that purport to make your child smarter, or higher achiever, get better scores, and I think all that is. Brad: It’s all marketing man, it’s all marketing. Clay: It’s all junk. A couple of years ago, same sort of genre, same brand, baby Mozart because Mozarts going to make you smart. Brad: Well the Mozart effect done by a French guy in 1991 said listening to classical music can make your kids smart. Everybody bought it. Clay: Total crap. Brad: Yeah, pretty much. But even a politician in Georgia, Zeller Miller, 1998, put a $105,000 into those budget so that all kids who were born in Georgia could have a CD. Clay: Why are we doing this cracklebearer? This is cracklebearer parenting. Brad: So I said, How about Charlie Daniels? He said, No, Mozart. Everybody bought it, man. Politicians, parents. Clay: I can’t stand any of these products that say, okay, because basically babies are really good at seeking out the stimulation that they need for their brains to develop properly. They curious, they’re playful, I mean, you don’t need to go buy something out of the box to help your baby’s brain develop, they’ll going to give that. Don’t lock them in the closet. Brad: Flashcards, you don’t want to buy those? Clay: Oh God, don’t get me started on flash cards. So anyway, what are some things, there’re actually some things that will make your child smarter, yeah, there is a couple. One is your child needs to have smart parents. Brad: Yup. Clay: Which is pretty much tough on Brad’s kids, sorry about that. Scientists say that your IQ, 50-80% of that set by genetics the rest of it set by the environment. Opinions vary, environment’s important. Brad: 50-90? Clay: 50-80. You probably didn’t hear me because you’re kind of dumb. Brad: So 20% is nurture? Clay: Yes, as they say. The other thing that they’ve shown that has a positive impact on IQ, breastfeeding. Nutrients in there, so good, breastfeed the kid, 6 months, higher IQ. Show. proven. Other than that, you know, common sense. Oh there’s one video you can show that’ll improve your child’s intelligence and that’s Due Dads The Man’s Guide to Labor and Delivery. Even though it seems like, it’s good for parents, expecting parents, great for babies. Brad: Hundred words a minute. A minute watching that, hundred words. Clay: Dead, solid lock, 50 IQ points up showing that video. Not trying to make any claims. I think that’s all for us, we hope you have a good luck making your child more smarter, most smartest, quite smarter. Brad: Talk to them. Clay: Have a good time being more of a parental to your smarterest baby. That’s all for us, here from the Dad Labs. Brad: Edgar Winter, you heard? Clay: If the kids watch that video and like showed up asking, you know, grandma for like a bloody show. Brad: Yeah or Can I see your darkened areola? Clay: This actually is not a good video to show. Brad: But it’s for people that don’t have small children yet. That’s the point. It’s helping to bring small children into the world. Clay: It’s that a baseball bat, a mitt? Brad: Yeah, pretty much.