“Baby Einstein” is No Genius

Finally! An insidious product, cleverly marketed for over a decade to parents at the expense of our children, is being outed. But will parents wise up? First, the good news: According to a recent article in the New York Times, “Disney Expands Refunds on ‘Baby Einstein’ DVDs,” The Walt Disney Company is widely refunding users of its ”Baby Einstein” videos in response to challenges about...

Blue Sky Thinking

“Take the mobile off the bed, take care of their needs, and leave them alone.” This odd sentence was my introduction to Magda Gerber and the child care philosophy that would become my passion. I had given birth a few months before reading this quotation, the only one by Gerber, in an article in L.A. Parent magazine about raising a creative child. I remember nothing else about the article, but I could not get...

The Myth of Baby Boredom

Kiley holds up her head and peers around at the other infants. Her eyes stop and fixate on Chase, who is moving across the floor in an army crawl. Elbows bent and using alternating forearms, Chase propels himself forward towards a small, red whiffle ball that lay on the floor near Kiley. Although Kiley had also shown interest in the ball, her attention flagged when she realized that it was beyond her reach. ...

Set Me Free (No Baby Equipment Needed)

Brace yourself for a shocking truth: parents need not buy every contraption on display at the baby super store! When I was pregnant with my first child I fell into the trap of believing I needed all the technology that was available. I naively assumed that these products must be in stores because they were helpful and necessary, and no one had advised me to the contrary. ‘Luckily,’ I found hand-me-downs from...