Baby Einstein: A Help or Hindrance?

Many of you have heard the debate about educational videos for kids, especially about their effect on very young children. Time Magazine came out with this article in 2007 detailing a study at the University of Washington saying that babies between 8 and 16 months old who had watched baby videos scored 10% lower on lanuguage tests than babies who had not. The reason for this is that watching videos takes away from the time babies can be interacting with adults. However, this study says nothing about the effect of the classical music in videos like the Baby Einstein ones. All of the music in the Baby Einstein videos is classical music, played in a music box style to make it interesting for children. My kids have learned many classical pieces from their Baby Einstein videos. I love to hear them humming the Blue Danube waltz or see them light up when they hear Beethoven's 5th Symphony. My conclusion is that if you choose to have your children watch any videos, as I do because I have 3 children close in age and occasionally need to find things to keep them entertained, it is good to let them watch something that will expose them to classical music.