Building a Better Baby?

Before I actually became a parent, I had all sorts of ideas about how I’d raise the perfect child. From an early age, my kids would take music lessons, learn a martial art, play organized sports, learn to read early and listen to plenty of Mozart. It’s not going to happen. Besides the fact that I don’t have anywhere near the energy to orchestrate such a plan, I’m not so sure it would be in anyone’s best interest. As parents, we tend to worry an awful lot about facilitating our babies’ development, which makes us easy prey for marketers of products that are supposed to give them an advantage. But do they? I can’t say for sure, but I kind of doubt it. From an article on MSNBC:

Savvy marketers, says [Claire] Lerner [director of parenting resources for Zero to Three], have convinced parents that if they don’t use certain products and programs, they’re being negligent. It’s not only not true, but some of the products could actually be counterproductive, experts say.

“As far as infant videos, DVDs and computer programs, for example, a lot of developmental or educational claims are made implicitly or explicitly in terms of testimonials but most of the claims are outlandish and completely false,” says Dimitri A. Christakis, director of the Child Health Institute at the University of Washington in Seattle.

It’s also worth noting, as Dr. Steven Parker does in his blog on WebMD, that

When experts talk about enhancing brain development, many quote a scientific study done on laboratory rats. It showed their brains to be more complex if they were raised in an extra stimulating environment (whatever that means for a rat!), compared to those raised with no extra stimulation. “Complex environments make complex brains”, we are told.

Fair enough, but what isn’t usually mentioned is that wild rats have the most “complex” brains of all. Apparently, if you’re a rat, just fending for yourself in the real world is the best “stimulation” for brain development. Remember Einstein’s parents didn’t bombard him with extra stimulation as an infant. In fact, the poor guy didn’t even get to watch Baby Einstein, he was just raised in an ordinary environment. Imagine how smart he could have been!

The lesson: While it’s always a good idea to think about your baby’s developmental needs, it might be best for everyone in the long run to give kids time to just be kids. Plus, it’ll save you some money.

Here’s a link to the MSNBC article.
Here’s a link to Dr. Parker’s blog entry (really worth a read).