Air date: January 23, 2011

Host: Jeremy Shere, PhD

Email
Share this segment
Download MP3

Even though they might not openly admit it, all parents hope their kids will turn out to be geniuses. And why not? Being really smart is good.

But this hope that their offspring will one day change the world can lead parents to make some dubious choices -- like investing in videos that claim to make babies smarter.

There’s the Baby Genius series, featuring cute, upbeat songs, like the classic "Apples and Bananas." If Baby Genius doesn’t enough intellectual punch for your taste, you might try Baby Einstein’s "Wild Animal Safari Discovery Kit."

Now, there’s nothing really wrong with these videos, but do they actually make babies smarter?

"No," says Fred Zimmerman, a researcher at UCLA who studies child development.

"Smart baby videos have very limited impact on babies cognitive development and certainly no positive impact that’s ever been detected in any of the research literature."

So why don’t smart baby videos make kids smarter? Because, Zimmerman says, they don’t give babies what they really need to develop.

"They develop from interaction, primarily with their parents and other adults, but also with the real world, the physical world around them, and those are things that baby videos just cannot reproduce."

Now, to be fair, baby videos have backed away a bit from their former claims that watching videos of cartoons and crude hand puppets set to classical muzak actually boost your kid’s IQ. But, as Zimmerman points out, naming a product Baby Genius still suggests as much.

So what should you do if you want your kids to grow up smart? According to Zimmerman, don’t sweat it.

"I think parents should probably take a chill pill on this issue. In a normal developing environment kids are going to get what they need."

Become a fan of Sound Medicine on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. I’m Jeremy Shere.

Additional Resources:

• Read more about the effectiveness of "smart baby" videos.