Baby DVD's and interactions

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I found an article I thought was pretty interesting:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/child ... -baby.html

Particularly the parts:

“Addressing little children like grown-ups is a very bad idea that can have long term consequences on their ability to communicate properly as they get older. They might be fine academically, but they will find it hard to maintain friendships and can become either very introverted or frustrated, and even aggressive.”

and,

“We’ve all encountered the highly articulate nine or ten-year-old who just opens his mouth and speaks exhaustively, without letting anyone else have a word in or being receptive to the reactions of the listener,” says Boyce. “In some cases, the child may be diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome or even autism, when in fact, all they need is to be taught the very basics of non-verbal communication.”

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This seems to be very common these days. I'm wondering what everyone else has to say about it.

I think it's nonsense. Once again it sounds like it's something that's blaming the parents for their kids problems.

I think the purveyors of baby DVDs are completely, fully aware that their product has no beneficial effect, but they're not regulated by the FDA and parents are buying their crap, so they sell it. I have a theory that they are counterproductive because they are a one-way (non-interactive) experience and to a lesser degree because typical modern video editing involves cutting at a rate that is actually kind of obscene if you just sit there and watch for it. But it's more interesting than, say, 1950s black and white cinema to most people so that's what they do.

There is no replacement for one-on-one interaction with your child, regardless of age, and I think it's lazy to put your kid in front of the TV when you can actually put some effort into it. But I've babysat enough times to know why parents do it.

While I can get on board with the idea that DVDs are no proper way to educate a young child, I really don't think that speaking in a way that is not utterly ridiculous is harmful to them. Sure, you have to dumb it down a bit for them to understand, but you don't have to make weird noises, mispronunciations and repeated one-syllable words for them to learn.

Yes, parental interaction is very important when raising a child. Baby talk really isn't, as long as you don't pretend they've got a PhD either. Indeed, treating a child like he's an idiot who exists solely to stimulate you and not a person (AKA the usual reaction people have to babies) prevents them from growing.

When I was young, my friends were routinely older than I was. When I was K-2, I played chess with a family friend's son who was in college. In middle school, my friends were predominantly in high school or college. My sophomore year in high school, my first girlfriend was a sophomore in college. This was dual-sided - I had fewer issues with changes in peer behavior because I was not building my processes on that ever-changing foundation, but I also didn't relate much with people my own age. Now that I'm older, I find my friends are now sometimes younger than I am, and I am developing more age-peer friendships. The process of being savvy to the minute nuances that change daily during adolescence would have been overwhelming to me, and I think leads to some of the frustration that I observe on WP. Do what is right for the individual, not what is ascribed to be right.


M.

They would much more likely be diagnosed with PDD-NOS because of lack of rigid or repetitive behaviour.
I was.

I don't see any need for such DVDs. I think and feel that kids should be allowed to be kids.