Michelle Carchrae's Blog

Posted by Michelle Carchrae

So it turns out that Baby Einstein is just a clever marketing trick, and that the DVDs and videos are not only counter to the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation that infants under 2 years old have no screen time, but they really don't make babies any smarter either.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is celebrating a victory following a years-long campaign to hold Disney accountable for the misleading marketing of their Baby Einstein products. For a limited time, parents who bought a Baby Einstein DVD or video in the last five years can get a full refund. If you bought a Baby Einstein DVD or video believing that it would help your child learn and you were disappointed to find out that it won't, be sure to make use of the full refund. This is a great way to show Disney that parents expect to be told the truth about products marketed to babies and children.

Posted by Michelle Carchrae

Today my just-turned-three year old daughter decided she wanted to use the money in her new piggy bank to buy an ice cream cone. After reading Barbara Coloroso's Kids Are Worth It! [Harper Paperbacks, 2002] I had started giving her a small weekly allowance, to help her understand the value of money by saving and purchasing things by herself.

It all sounded good on paper, this idea of letting a child decide what she wants to spend her money on. When the woman handed a $3 adult-sized strawberry waffle cone over the counter to my daughter, I had some second thoughts. It was her money, so she ate the whole thing herself, minus three or four small bites for mom. An adult-sized strawberry waffle cone has a rather considerable amount of sugar in it.

As the sugar high persisted through the afternoon, triggering several screaming fits and a whole lot of general uncooperativeness, I wondered whether I'd done the right thing. She does need to learn how to use, save and spend money wisely. Perhaps she just needs a smaller allowance.