Daddy vs. Baby Einstein, Sesame Street

During Carter's sick-cation, we watched some "quality" toddler programming like Baby Einstein (scary addictive to toddlers) & Sesame Street (timeless classic). After a couple days, I came to a few realizations.

While Baby Einstein (B.E.) might have some educational value (ed. note: actually - not so much added Ms. Schwangston), the reaction of Carter, and most toddlers, is very close to hypnotism. I'm not sure if the vidoes teach the kid anything but to request to watch it more and more, until the parents show the same glassy-eyed response.

As much as I love Sesame Street because (a) it is free (b) we can Tivo new shows daily (vs. the same hypnotic/creepy video) (c) reminiscing factor of my early years (d) who doesn't like Snuffaluffagus? Like B.E., the show can't cost more than $100 to produce most segments and how useful is the letter "N" and the "number 12" to a 2 year old? (Early education peeps feel free to pile on me in the comment - I'm begging for it, right?)

TV may not be bad for little ones, but other than mindless distraction (why I like it), I don't think it is very good. But I caved big time during C's sick-week and maybe those 15-30 min won't melt his brain or eliminate creativity just yet.

After our immersion of B.E. & Sesame Street, I wondered how hard is it to make this "educational" stuff. Remember when I say "educate," my aim is to hypnotize. I will tell you that the entire production required about 1hr filming using my toddler to keep the cost down, but productivity was definitely iffy at times.

I promise this will teach a toddler nothing, except to watch the colors and fall under my spell. However, I learned that maybe you shouldn't involve Mommy unless she knows the entire concept. We (Carter & I) were hoping for a big finish of C knocking it down, but Ms. Schwangston did it herself in a enthusiastic demonstration (not caught on camera unfortunately), and we had to move in a different direction.

Thanks for reading...