Comments on: Buy Buy Baby – Book Review

By: The Perfect Gift For A Newborn Baby

The Perfect Gift For A Newborn Baby — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:20:22 +0000

[...] – complete waste of money. For the first two or three months, babies are more stimulated by looking at different patterns [...]

By: FourPillars

FourPillars — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:45:32 +0000

Mrs. Micah – thanks for the comment. I borrowed it from my local library so it’s worth a shot.

Mike

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:17:38 +0000

Definitely on my to-read list. I’m fascinated by the idea of children as consumers–it’s like driving by a train wreck. Half is curiousity and half is wanting to protect my own (potential) babies.

I wonder if the library has a copy…

By: Around the carnival circuit this week | Hug Twice

Around the carnival circuit this week | Hug Twice — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:04:28 +0000

[...] Pillars: Buy Buy Baby. This is a book I think I will soon be [...]

By: Carnival of Family Life « Adventures in Juggling

Carnival of Family Life « Adventures in Juggling — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 07:03:08 +0000

[...] Holly begins to prepare the nursery and baby layette wish list, Four Pillars offers Buy Buy Baby- book review that discusses the idea that expensive “educational” toys are anything [...]

By: JHS

JHS — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:15:18 +0000

Thanks for participating in this week’s Carnival of Family Life, hosted at Adventures in Juggling. Stop by and read the other wonderful entries!

By: FourPillars

FourPillars — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:04:13 +0000

BB – It’s impossible not to want the best for your kid. I guess you just have to decide how best to achieve this “goal”

Thanks for the tip about Barney.

Mike

By: Brip Blap

Brip Blap — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:21:31 +0000

Oh, and if you don’t want your son to watch TV, don’t introduce him to Barney. He saw it when we visited some of our neighbors, their son very kindly gave him one of his plush Barney dolls, and now he is maniacally in love with Barney and all the sharing-y goodness he represents.

By: Brip Blap

Brip Blap — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:18:53 +0000

That sounds like an interesting book – I’ll have to look for a copy of it. My take is (a) Baby Einstein is like crack to pre-toddlers, so it’s useful as a distraction but absolute trash as an educational tool. The Mozart thing is silly, too, although we do play a lot of music around the house all the time for my son – but we decided it doesn’t matter what, so he’s heard everything from pop to rock to disco to classical to jazz. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a toddler dancing to Kanye West…

Anyway, I do think that you can buy educational books, although that’s probably simply a much more sophisticated marketing technique. I just got a copy of “In The Night Kitchen” from my mom for my son and he is deeply fascinated with the pictures, the odd almost-but-not-quite-rhyming text, etc.

And I will say that the desire to see your children smart is almost inherent in being a parent. It’s hard NOT to want to see your kid be the smartest on the block. I beam with pride when my son starts answering questions in Russian and English. It’s cool. Marketers play to this, and I’m sure it’s something that’s been going on as long as commerce – I’m sure Romans bought Genuine Spartan Memory Games (TM) to improve little Virgil’s intellect, too.

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:08:48 +0000

My mum teaches in a very high profile, old-money school in Dubbilin (one of her students was given land and commercial planning permission for his 21st birthday, to give you a sense of the advantages these kids have). where a lot of the mothers were quite hard-charging lawyers, businesspeople, etc before settling down. So now that energy gets focused on junior and some of the stories she has are very interesting – the kids get all the rugby coaching, foreign travelling, high culture and exam cramming money can buy. And they’re competitive! But my mum picks up lots of cash giving the little darlings extra Irish tuition, so she’s happy.