Your Baby Can Read? Reading Between the Lines

Question: On the day that your child was born, what kinds of hopes and dreams did you wish for them? To be a great leader? Perhaps a great actor author or athlete? Maybe it was as simple as hoping they follow your path in life or depending on the person, praying they don’t follow in your footsteps.

In any case, despite the various end results we all fantasize about, the common thread they all share is the simple desire to want what is best for our children. Those desires have a tendency to evolve into a fear of being inadequate, and ultimately the roadblock to our child’s pathway to success.

As a result, corporations feed off of those aspirations in order to convince us that their product/service/institution will give our children the greatest chance of becoming a success.  We respond to their advertisements and scare tactics with our wallets. There are quite a few examples of this that cross many child-focused industries, but I’d like to briefly focus on one: The YourBaby Can Read Programs (YBCR).

YBCR is a series of videos, books and flashcards that are supposedly tailor designed to the thought patterns of infants, in order to give them a head start on literacy comprehension as early as nine months old. This is my well-planned, scientific rendition of the process:

 

This must be what the E-Trade baby used

 

 

Here is the infomercial:

If you watch the infomercial closely enough, you’ll see how they attempt to implant that fear thing I was talking about earlier. Viewers will observe these babies doing seemingly amazing literary feats and panic after realizing that their own child is not doing half of those things.

How is my child going to become the POTUS if he/she can’t read Charlotte’s web at the age of 3? If my infant cannot kick their legs when shown the word, “kicking” on a flashcard, how can I expect them to win the Nobel and/or Pulitzer?

We again respond to these emotions with our wallets and convince ourselves that the only way we can ensure the success of our child (and validation as a parent) is by purchasing the entire YBCR system.

Well, before you hand over your credit card information, you might want to hold off until you read the rest of the paragraph. You know that saying, “If something is too good to be true, it probably is”? Well, apparently the Federal Trade Commission thought the same thing about YBCR and hit them with a lawsuit to the tune of about $185 million because of misrepresentation of their product.

What is the lesson can we learn from this situation? In a nutshell, before you purchase any product that promises you grandiose results, do your research by checking product reviews, and check sites like the Better Business Bureau (www.BBB.org) to make sure the company is legitimate.

There are plenty of fun, low cost ways to help enhance your child's reading ability. Here are a few articles that might be useful:

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/02/10-steps-to-teaching-your-child-to-read/

http://www2.ed.gov/parents/read/resources/edpicks.jhtml

http://www.familyconnect.org/parentsite.asp?SectionID=75&TopicID=351&DocumentID=3913

 

Also, I wrote an article highlighting the benefits of reading to your child as early as possible.

Check it out here!

Question: Did you purchase or were ever tempted to purchase an infomercial-based product that promised to enhance your child's ability?

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An Ultrasound Miracle

I announced in my Christmas post that my wife and I are expecting our 2^nd child. Going prenatal again has been an interesting experience because some of it has been familiar and some of it has been completely different compared to our first go-round. When I found out we were having our first, I was more afraid than anything. Afraid that I was in way over my head and I didnt have what it took to be a dad. This was a stark contrast to my current mindset which is one of excitement and maybe a pinch of nervousness. After 3+ years of parenting, my wife and I are more established both mentally and financially. We also are way more comfortable in our parental skin now.

Another cool thing about having baby #2 is being able to have our 3 year old participate in the process. It was becasue of him I found out my wife was expecting in the first place.I was at work but before I left, my wife told me that she would be taking a pregnancy test. Later that day, I received the following text message from my wife:

A couple of Fridays ago was a special day because we got to find out the sex of the baby together as a family.  What made it especially significant for us was the fact that neither I nor my son were supposed to be there for the ultrasound: I just started a new job a couple of months ago and although this new position came with finanical benefits and a closer commute, they have very strict attendance policies, particularly with new hires. It was devastating news. When I gave my wife the news that I wasn’t going to make it to the appointment, her eyes welled up with tears at the anger and disappointment of knowing that the two most important people in her life wouldn’t be able to be there for such a significant milestone.

After a few days of reflection and quietly cursing my boss, my wife eventually came up with an ingenious compromise: She would go to the appointment alone and request that the ultrasound specialist not tell her the sex but write it down and put it in an envelope. She would then take said envelope to our local bakery and instruct them to bake a cake and have the color of the filling match the sex.  It was brilliant. It wasn’t the same as actually being there, but it was a fun and creative way for us to get the news together.

The day before the appointment, the cake was pre ordered and we were pretty happy that we were able to make the best out of a potentially bad situation. There was news of an upcoming blizzard headed out way. The worst we thought would happen was the doctor's office closing and not being able to go at all. However, the complete opposite happened: not only did we confirm that they would be open, but we also found out that my job was closing their office as well. It was pretty exciting news. The next day we happily drove to the doctor's office.


So basically, I have a natural disaster to thank for creating one of the most memorable family moments of my life.










Explaining President's Day to a Toddler

I suck at Photoshop apparently

(This morning at the breakfast table)

Me: Do you know what today is?

Son: A "stay home" day?

Me: Yes, that's true. But it's also President's Day. Do you know what a president is?

Son: Like "O'Rock Obama?"

Me: That's right! But do you know what he does?

Son: No

Me: Well, he is the leader of our country. Kind of how Leonardo is the leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Son: Oh, okay!

My wife rolled her eyes at me, but I say as long as he understood the analogy, why not?