Jodi is 100% right. The article and news clip, which came out when MY son was an infant, only came out because stupid parents were thinking "Einstein....so it makes my kids smart....so I'll play them one after the other...". I remember the genius I was talking to while walking around a store one day: I mentioned the videos and she was like "Oh, it's not good for them!" but I SWEAR she told me, totally serious, 10 minutes later that her infant son's favorite show was Jerry Springer. (I almost passed out right there in the store).
I tried to be very interactive with my son, even when prepping for dinner I would have him in his infant carrier, on the table, discussing onions, bellpeppers, why we cook with them, why we cut them this way, etc. But HONESTLY there IS a limit to how much talking you can do in a day. I would lay my son on his playmat/gym and turn on ONE video (they are only like 20-30 minutes) while I was in the kitchen frying up meat or something that would be unsafe to have a baby around.
The colors, simple shapes, soothing classical music, and fun toys are actually very cool and exciting for babies. We liked to watch him get excited about certain colors or certain toys, and it gave us ideas of things to do with him or things to buy, as well----things we knew would rock his little world. We would watch the one about water, and then sit on the steps of our apartment pool and have a good old time. We'd watch the one with a train that excited him, so we went to visit the Tarantula and took a trip to the zoo and rode that little train. (etc) It does excite them and open their world up a little, without overstimulating them. The classical music is great for them. But we watched one half hour video a day, not hours of TV (educational or not), ya know? I will definately show them to our "coming soon" baby.
Another thing we did that I am so proud of now that he's a toddler, watching the results of, is bringing all kinds of music to him from the very beginning and dancing with him: raggae, big band, culturally aware hiphop and rap (thinking a Tribe Called Quest and Arrested Development, and the BEST classical and hiphop combination: Nuttin' But Stringz), classical, praise & worship, oldies, doowop, etc. It makes a HUGE difference later in many ways, and brings a little fun into everyone's lives anyway.
