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When a good friend of mine had a baby a couple of years ago I gifted her a couple of the Baby Einstein DVDs.    She examined them charily as she lifted them from the gift wrapping.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked. 

“They aren’t for now, they’re for later,” I said cheerily going into my spiel about how they are supposed to make your child smarter by plopping them in front of the television screen to absorb –what, I didn’t know.  My daughter had long been past the baby stage when the Baby Einstein DVDs made their first appearance.   But, supposedly, they are the newest thing that a lot of people were spending their money on to give their children the educational edge.

“They are supposed to be good,” I assured her.  She let out an “Uh-huh” with a sound that let me know she wasn’t buying it.  When her daughter was nearing one I asked her they ever watched it.

“You know, I forgot all about that darn DVD.  By the time Kay-kay watches it she’ll probably put it into the player herself.”

I thought of all the things I could have bought that she could have put to good use: some onesies, a silver picture frame or a huge teddy bear might have been better.  Hell, I thought, I should have just gave her the money if I had known the videos would have just stayed in their wrappers.

Now I know I probably should have just went with the money.

A report from the Journal of Pediatrics is saying that the Baby Einstein DVD’s aren’t useful at all and that, in fact, they could be hindering the speech of infants.

From now on when I give a gift it will be the gift of books.  Who could ever turn down Good Night Moon?