[.ca] Baby Einstein: Baby Mozart: Music Festival

From Amazon.com:
It's called "the Mozart Effect," the notion that exposing youngsters to the melodies of the maestro can improve verbal ability, spatial intelligence, creativity, and memory. It's a pretty big leap of faith to understand that effect unless you personally see a toddler react to the stimulation. The Baby Einstein folks have a series of tapes (Baby Einstein, Baby Bach) that add visual stimulation to the bouncy recordings (using vibraphone, Rhodes electric piano, and even a glockenspiel). The melodies are heard against colorful imagery of spinning tops, wave machines, soft baby toys, mobiles, and the like. Several parenting groups and magazines have heralded the tapes for children 1 to 36 months, but the Orwellian aspect of introducing babes in arms to the TV screen may cause many to just pick up the CD. --Doug Thomas

Additional Features:
This DVD is more than just a digital version of the video--it incorporates three Baby Einstein Company products in one. Using the DVD menu, you can enter the "Home Theater," which plays the award-winning video. Or you can enter the "Concert Hall" to play the soundtrack, even choosing selections for playtime or nighttime. The "Language Lab" features a digital version of Baby Webster, the company's flash-card product for youngsters. These flash cards contain text, pictures, and pronunciations of simple, everyday words in eight languages, including Japanese, Hebrew, Spanish, and English. All programs can automatically repeat for extended play. --Doug Thomas

USE WITH CAUTION!:
I am writing this only because I am concerned about everyone's babies! My son is now 25 months old. He is and always has been obsessed with these movies. He has refused to watch anything else and when he was still young, it was a must to take the videos with us wherever we went. He was that addicted! Now he is in all kinds of early intervention programs. He is not talking, he is not very social, and he is having a lot of problems with sensory related things. He has therapy 4 times a week in the home and is about to start a special school for children with developmental delays. I think the cause of all of this WAS THESE VIDEOS! I am pregnant now with my second child and my next child WILL NOT watch any TV until the age of 2 as recommended by the pediatric board. I want everyone to know this is a possibility of being an early warning for you! The research will show you there was a DRAMATIC increase in autism and sensory integration problems (almost an epidemic) in the past five years. Do you ever wonder why? If you want my advice, keep your young child AWAY FROM THESE VIDEOS AND AWAY FROM THE TV! Thanks for reading! I hope this saves at least one child from the difficulties my child is going through!

Great tool!:
I loved this video mostly because it was a great tool to help extend my baby's wake time in the mornings. It kept her interested but not overstimulated. It wasn't too loud or too busy, it was a perfect balance! Well thought out, I think.

perfect:
My baby was only 2 1/2 months old, when i first bought it and he loves it, now 3 month old loves to watch it every day and jump to the music. loves the puppet show too.

Wondering what's next?:
The series is very interesting and I'm wondering if more kids videos are on the way. My children are 6 and 3 and like watching these and other videos again and again.

It amzes me that this video gets so many rave reviews:
I give three stars only because it does come in handy if you need to occupy your infant for thirty minutes, and the video is at least age appropriate for infants...I would much rather have a one year old watch this than a faster paced cartoon. We received this video, Baby Einstein and Baby Bach as a gift and I was not impressed with any of them, although, as I said, they did once in a while come in handy. I do highly recommend some of the newer BE series videos...we got Baby Van Gogh and Baby Doolittle Neighborhood Animals when my daughter was a baby and they are so much better because they use puppets and have a theme and some structure. I never understood the "video board book" concpet of watching the video as an activity with your child...I much preferred looking at picture books when my children were infants.