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‘Baby Einstein’ Creator Sues for Data on Kids and TV
The man who co-founded the “Baby Einstein” videos enterprise but no longer owns the brand is suing the University of Washington for release of records, data and research methods relating to studies on kids and television.
William Clark, who along with his wife Julie Aigner-Clark, launched the company back in 1996, said in a press release earlier this week that he asked a judge to order the university to release records of two studies that concluded young children who watch television are at a greater risk for attention problems and language delays.
“Given that other research studies have not shown the same outcomes, we would like the raw data and analytical methods from the Washington studies so we can audit their methodology, and perhaps duplicate the studies, to see if the outcomes are the same,” Clark said in the statement.
The once popular “Baby Einstein” videos, now owned by the Walt Disney Co., were recently recalled. Under the threat of a class-action lawsuit, Disney offered owners their money back for the tapes and DVDs, which had been sold as educational resources. Clark, stands by the products, the inevitability of TV exposure, and claims the videos are age-appropriate viewing.
The University of Washington claims it gave Clark some of the studies’ records and that they no longer have the rest of what Clark has asked for. Five years ago, when Clark first sued for the information, the University said the records were exempt from release for five years, a protocol which protects researchers’ competitiveness.
What do you think? Like many people, I’ve owned at one time or another “Baby Einstein” DVDs. I never thought they taught kids anything other than the ability to sit and stew in front of the TV (and easy lesson to learn!). I think Disney was right to refund money on these DVDs, even though the owners of them, who I’ve defended, suffered plenty of ridicule.
That said, I think the University of Washington and the studies’ researchers should release the information. I’d like to know more about the effects of TV viewing on children — especially young, young children. Whether it’s good, bad, or a wash — I’d like to quit guessing. Because Clark is correct — whether a little or a lot, TV is inevitable.
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7 Comments
[...] ‘Baby Einstein’ Creator Sues to Prove TV Not Bad for Kids [...]
Vintage Ad Reminds Us Girls Used to Just Be Kids | Strollerderby commented on Jan 14 10 at 5:00 pm[...] The University of Washington study concluded that young children who watch television are at higher risk of language delays and attention problems. While this new study didn’t directly address that issue, the [...]
Baby Einstein Videos Still Don’t Work | Strollerderby commented on Mar 04 10 at 11:34 amRobyn commented on Jan 13 10 at 6:48 pmI always think that study data should be released. Too often, the media gets ahold of one central theme and ignores the rest of the data. I loved the Baby Einstein videos. My son talked at 8 months, and continues to be about 2 years ahead of his peers in vocabulary and comprehension. Frankly, I do think Baby Einstein helped with that. He learned an amazing amount of words and contexts from the DVDs, which I almost always watched with him. We also signed and used Signing TIme, and I know for a fact that that helped. I really would love to see the raw data from this study.
Lia commented on Jan 14 10 at 12:36 amI don’t think they help in the slightest. It was long on gimmick and short on substance, in my opinion.
Leigh commented on Jan 14 10 at 8:39 amMy husband and I also let our son watch Baby Einstein and Signing Time videos. But we also did not let him watch the videos alone (okay occasionally while I cooked dinner). We watched with him and gave names to everything he saw and discussed the colors and how many we saw. He learned his alphabet, colors and names for body parts by the time he was two in part because of these videos. I think it is how you use them that impacts your child. Let your child watch all the TV he wants is probably a bad idea but only watching these videos once or twice doesn’t help either. Children learn from the repetition. The hard part for me was having to sit through them over and over again, but helping my son learn new things is never a waste of time.
Black Sheep commented on Jan 14 10 at 3:22 pmMy twins have learned all of their colors, shapes, letters and numbers up to 20 from videos. They are visual learners and really get a lot out of them.
Fr0stbite commented on Feb 10 10 at 7:50 pmTelevision itself is not bad, It is what they watch that can be bad. Educational shows can play a very active role in development in a child’s mind. It’s all the commercials and non-useful adult like shows that can do harm. It’s all about time/curricular regulation. Knowing what is good for your child and what is not.
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