http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128104580&sc=fb&cc=fp

Interesting read. Crazy to think how this research sparked what is a major market for teaching toddlers.

Perhaps parents will reevaluate these methods.

My kids loved those videos, as board books. When used as such I think they are great. I do think music remains a wonderful and vital gift you can give your children. The problem was to many parents saw them as a babysitter and then you were back to sticking a kid in front of the TV all the while thinking they would be smarter. Can anyone say hello? Even then it wasn't hard to see how the logic was skewed. It always pays to do your research.

Television dulls the mind and reinforces gender, racial, and economic stereotypes. It preaches euphisms about aging, and oftentimes doesn't stress the importance of reading. Sure, television may be educational, but too much television (unless you are an educational program junkie like me) can lower your ability to think abstractly (I learned that from a book). Oh, yeah, and the hoax that stresses that music strengthens intelligence is a lie, too, because it only really helps with mathematic skills: nothing more, nothing less. But that's just me putting my two cents in.