I saw this last night on TV--late night TV! And while I'm not sure about the pressure to get babies to read, I did think that it's a great picture of what babies are capable of. Check it out: http://www.yourbabycanread.com.
Child development experts say that the first three years of a child's life are THE most important developmentally. Their brains are developing at such a high rate. And the foundations for everything in life are in these three years.
That's why we've created the Play 'n' Worship series for toddlers and preschoolers (and why we're considering babies next).
We're huge proponents of making nursery and preschool a place of ministry--not just a babysitting station. Kids this age are sponges! Let's soak 'em with God's truth and the love of Jesus!
I wish that I had the link to share with you, but I read an article about the effects of this program and others like it on babies. It is very BAD for their development. There is an order that children should learn and develop. Just because they CAN do it out of order, doesn't mean that they should. Overall, they've found that pushing babies to read and memorize (because that's really all they are doing at that age) is causing them to to underdeveloped socially and to have a very negative view on learning and creativity at a later age. Please be careful pushing this product. It seems impressive, but may not be age-appropriate or good for young children in the long run.
Posted by: Mandi Presley | June 09, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Great points, Mandi! And, I didn't mean to recommend it--just to show how open babies' brains are. But now you have me thinking and searching for that article. If anyone find's it, post it here!
I did find this at CNN that says that babies are harmed more by TV-viewing than helped: http://tinyurl.com/ac6yhk
Posted by: Chris Yount Jones | June 09, 2009 at 01:19 PM