For parents who were suckered into Disney’s Baby Einstein concept, the company has announced they will give full refunds on up to four videos. The basis of the refund is to compensate parents who actually believed the videos would make their children smarter. UPI reports:
The move comes after Disney’s Baby Einstein Co. last month announced “enhanced consumer satisfaction guarantees” after lawyers had threatened a class-action suit for false advertising. “The Walt Disney Company’s entire Baby Einstein marketing regime is based on express and implied claims that their videos are educational and beneficial for early childhood development,” a letter from the lawyers reportedly said.
I am not a fan of electronic gizmos for kids, but I am a Mac fan. When offered an opportunity to review a new app for iPhones and iPod touch by Parents Magazine, I decided to approach it with an open mind. Previously, I’d bashed such applications, but this one is different.
My own personal experience involves my five-year-old son, who has verbal apraxia. The tracing activities are wonderful in providing him with a unique way to practice fine motor skills while engaging with letters, shapes, and numbers. I am also thrilled to have him using the iPod touch, as soon he will be using it as an AAC device to help him communicate.
The green factor in this app may be a stretch, and for that dear reader, I apologize; however, if your are looking for an app to entertain your child on the car, airplane, waiting room, iPlay n’ Learn may be for you. Heck, you can’t beat the price. Read the rest of this entry »
Think that lovable, furry ol’ Elmo couldn’t get any sweeter? Well, now he’s using his helping hands by reminding kids to wash theirs in an effort to fight swine flu.
A new ad campaign, sponsored by three government agencies, will feature Elmo and Gordon teaming up. They’ll spread the message on how notto spread germs: wash hands frequently, cough and sneeze into your elbow, and keep your hands away from your face.
The best part? They don’t mention the swine flu vaccine in any of the 30-second PSAs. See?
Do you put an infant to sleep on its belly or on its back? Over time, the advice on how best to prevent SIDS with infant sleeping positions has changed, yet parenting magazines have not kept pace with the changes. Do these misleading images negatively affect parents in choosing the safest sleep position for their infants? Pediatrics, the official magazine of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is concerned. Read the rest of this entry »
The poor guy just wanted to watch a baseball game. And then this selfish, nasty woman had the gall to–gasp!–breastfeed in the seat in front of him. Oh, the horror!
So he did what any sane representative for a radio program would do: He Tweeted his disgust. He made sure to toss a few choice words in there, like:
‘crazy‘, ‘no shame‘, ‘rude‘. And don’t forget that ever-popular suggestion, ‘Can’t she go in back?‘
But this so-called radio personality, Tim Mihalsky, had standards, folks. It’s indecent to breastfeed in front of him. That is, unless…
if she was hot, it woulda been a different tweet
But people were watching. It’s the magic of Twitter. Use a term, and anyone following that thread can watch your foot-in-mouth disease as it gets progressively worse. That’s where he came up against Feminist Breeder, a former rocker mom who is from, as DJ articulate said,
Of course we know that childhood obesity is a problem. And children who are obese often have higher blood pressure.
But a new study shows a link between the amount of screen time a kid has and high blood pressure, no matter what size the child is.
We’ve known from previous studies that sedentary behaviors are linked to obesity, and that obesity is linked to high blood pressure, but this is the first time that we’ve linked those behaviors directly to elevated blood pressure.
The real worry here is that these kids only averaged 1.5 hours of TV a day, less than the two hours max that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. It’s all the other “sitting around” behavior that can lead to high blood pressure.
“I’m only a child and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realize, neither do you!
You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don’t know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don’t know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!”
-Severn Suzuki, 12-years old, speaking at the 1992 UN Earth Summit
Communication Theory has one basic model: Sender > Message > Channel > Receiver. For the purists, when one engages in reciprocal communication the model expands to incorporate Feedback, Noise, and even, alternative channels–but for the sake of this post, we’ll emphasize the core principles of uni-directional communication. The power and effectiveness of what is being communicated is affected by each of these “steps”. Read the rest of this entry »
My 4-year-old loves Matchbox cars. He digs the planes and jets, too, but all it takes to please the boy is a $2 two-pack of these metal cars.
Mainly, it’s aunties and grandparents who spoil him with these vehicles. We don’t have TV, so it’s not like he started begging for them after he saw a commercial.
Good thing, too. Because if the Matchbox “Young Warriors” campaign makes it to the States from Singapore, I’m sure many parents would be up in arms.
Why? It’s not the idea of boys wanting to man these vehicles; that’s a given. But it’s the war-hardened stare in these boys’ eyes, like,
War is only my day job.
The campaign is getting some heat on the blogosphere. Read on and check out more shots…
As a step toward our goal of educating women about their choices and options during the childbearing years, Birth Matters Virginia solicited short videos about evidence-based maternity and delivery care. With our nation ranking 41st in maternal mortality and our cesarean rate surpassing 30%, it is more important than ever for women to be educated about their options.
We were pleased to have received nearly 40 informative and thoughtful videos on topics ranging from personal birth journeys, the role a doula plays, midwifery care, cesarean sections, birthing in the Amish culture, birth in Ireland, and more. Each video carried a message of the understanding that change needs to occur in our culture related to pregnancy and birth for the well-being of both mothers and babies.
For parents who were suckered into Disney’s Baby Einstein concept, the company has announced they will give full refunds on up to four videos. The basis of the refund is to compensate parents who actually believed the videos would make their children smarter. UPI reports:
