Baby Einstein: Language Nursery (DVD, 2002)

The name "Baby Einstein" can lull you into thinking it's okay or even good for babies to watch t.v., but the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television AT ALL to children under 2 because so many studies have proven its harmful effects on children. Studies have shown that:

- for every hour of television a baby watches a day, their chances of acquiring an attention deficit disorder increases by 10%.
- among babies ages 8 months to 16 months, every hour spent daily watching programs such as 'Brainy Baby' or 'Baby Einstein' translated into six to eight fewer words in their vocabularies as compared with other children their age."
- brain wave activity in babies is slower when watching television than when sleeping.

"Signing Time" (Two Little Hands Productions) DVDs is an option for occasional video viewing because communicating in sign language with your child is proven to:

- reduce frustration and tantrums
- accelerate language development
- promote parent-child bonding

Last thing for new moms - carrying newborn babies (in arms or next to body) an extra 3 hours a day resulted in 40% less crying. So carrying baby in a carrier or sling can help calm fussy babies!

I read up on the origins of this title as well as the Baby Einstien company on Wikipedia. I didn't know until then that this is the very first release in the Baby Einstein library. Well, it kind of shows. It's great that there are multiple languages speaking throughout the DVD. But to what end? I don't know what they're saying (subtitles would be great), so there is absolutely no interest for me whatsoever and as such is quite limited for use as a bonding experience with my daughter. Yes, it'd make a fine babysitter (though there are better out there), just plunk them down and walk away but if you are at all interested in what your child is watching and spending time with them it will likely not interest you as a parent at all. Also, the other options such as the flash cards are very poorly done. I doubt I will ever use them. You can tell this was done years ago before today's technology enabled so much more interactivity. I do give them credit for creating this title with their own out-of-pocket expenses and basically being the first of its kind, and more for selling Baby Einstein to Disney for a huge windfall, and even more for the creator staying on with them as a consultant, but in the end it’s outdated and almost too abstract. Maybe it's time to shelve this title or remake it for the 2Ks.

Like a lot of other buyers out there I was very disappointed with this Baby Einstein DVD. My son has several others from the series so I thought, why not? Well, I'll tell you why not ... he wouldn't watch it. I thought maybe it was because he is 15 months old, but I see in other reviews that kids his age do enjoy it. I let my 7 month old niece watch it at the same time and she didn't care for it either, thought she loves Baby Neptune and Numbers Nursery. I knew the format of the Language Nursery VHS but incorrectly assumed that the DVD version would be like the other DVDs I own. I was wrong and sadly disappointed. After the first viewing I knew it was a lost cause.

I got this DVD after I got the baby mozart DVD. I discovered rather quickly that my son prefers the DVD to be musical. This DVD is mostly people talking in different languages, with some musical parts. He would fidget and act bored when there would be people talking in other languages, but seem more entranced when it was musical. I am not really disappointed, because I do think it's great that my son is being exposed to other languages. However, I think that my son would like it more if it was more musical - even if it was all music in other languages. I have to say I am more impressed with the effect of Baby Mozart on my son than this one, but that will not stop me from using this DVD at all.

My youngest daughter is very into baby einstein. That being said, it is costing me more than I like to spend on sonething that is definteley a "phase". I recently looked on ebay for some dvd's and sure enough, I had many to choose from. The one I recently got came and was in excellent conditon minus the absent original dvd case. She was very pleased and I was put to sleep again with the magical music and abstract objects projected throughout the dvd. I will be shopping for more in days or maybe even months to come.



DVD is in excellent conditon although it did not come in the original Baby Einstien case.