The sad thing is there are programs that parents utilize that is just like this... Mybabycanread is the one that comes to mind. I have heard people spout off about this program on other boards and it goes against everything in my being... I really don't know why. Then last weekend I was flipping through the channels and saw that they have an infomerical so I recorded it to see what this program is that a few rave about. It is clearly a strap them in the highchair and feed them flashcards system.
I don't know about that programme, but when DS was tiny I did a bit of reading about this - my mother used flashcards with me a bit so I wondered. The programme suggested by the Domans, which I think is what set this all off, is actually very mild compared with the reputation of this kind of thing. It's a long time since I read the book, but as far as I remember, what they recommended for babies was doing flashcards for seconds per day, never doing it unless the baby seemed interested, being careful not to test too much, etc. I decided not to do it because it seemed pointless, but not because I felt it was actually going to do the children any harm. In fact I remember being very irritated with the book
Einstein never used flashcards (if I have that title correct) because it seemed to be attacking a strawman: it was assuming that parents were using flashcards to such an extent that it interfered with other things they might be doing with their children, whereas as I remember it there was always room for something else that would take a few minutes! Although, if there really are programmes out there that recommend doing flashcards with babies for hours, maybe it wasn't such a strawman as I thought...
