Baby Einstein: Genius Guaranteed! (or your money back)

The Key for Harvard? Yeah. Right.

Pardon me for being blunt, but if you’re someone who actually thinks your kid is going to become a brainiac from watching videos of funny puppets, drooling babies, and flying toys, well, then you’re clearly no Einstein yourself.

Just sayin’.

For those not in the know, I’m talking about the refund offered by Disney for the Baby Einstein videos. That’s right. Disney will refund your money if you’re not happy with the product or, in other words, your kid is not any “smarter” from watching their DVD’s.  Baby Einstein is calling it the “DVD Upgrade/Moneyback Guarantee” and they will refund up to 4 Baby Einstein DVD’s purchased between June 5, 2004 and September 4, 2009. The offer is good through March 4, 2010.

I have at least 4 of those DVD’s and I will not be returning any of them.

My kid just turned two years old and he no longer watches Baby Einstein, but he used to watch it a few times a week (among other videos) starting from around 8 months. Despite the fact that those videos drove me crazy, we watched them because my kid loved them. Why wouldn’t he? Crazy graphics, flying objects, catchy music, cute drooling babies, talking puppets…it might make you want to hurl something at the TV but it’s very fun for little ones, to say the least. But is it also educational? Will it make him grow up to cure cancer or create world peace? Is he a future Doogie Howser or Bill Gates? Highly unlikely. Should he actually grow up to be a genius, (which is *ahem* very likely), I doubt I’ll be framing those Baby Einstein DVD’s right next to his Nobel Peace Prize and diplomas from Harvard. But, in all seriousness, here’s what I really value from Baby Einstein and other baby/toddler-oriented videos – they are pure entertainment. (continues…)