Not knowing what to buy, I started at Barnes and Noble. A book never goes out of style, right? Well, they also have a selection of items other than books, and I moseyed on over to the infant/toddler section. Holy crap! Talk about ridiculously inflated prices! A plastic "bathtub book" with only a couple of "pages" of colorful duckies or something, $15! Everything seemed like it was 3-5x the price it should have been. I guess they know people will always spend money on young'ins. In economics they'd say that the demand for such items is inelastic, and thus stores can charge whatever they want.
When my own son was born, the hospital sent us home with a bag of goodies--including a Baby Mozart CD. Do you remember that idea, that our children would grow up to be geniuses if we only exposed them to classical music? It's a relatively harmless fiction, and I enjoyed a couple of the songs, so I played it once in awhile. I still have it and just checked the label, and it was compiled and published by a baby milk/formula company.
At least I didn't have to pay for that. Who on God's green earth would pay for these?
Interesting; I frequently agree with your perspective, but not this time.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason for my disagreement is that I don't see an argument, just derision. What is it about these titles that you find wrong?
I have purchased almost all of the "for babies" line for my youngest son (age 5 at the time, now 6). He was uninterested in reading the standard books for young children, and immediately fascinated by these. They are fun, light-hearted and have sparked his interest.
Out of these books, he has expressed an interest and been involved in conversations regarding the states of matter (from BEC to QGP), the standard model (quarks and subatomic particles), Magnetism and electromagnetism and other topics.
Perhaps they are not for every child, and perhaps some people misuse them, but they are worthwhile for some, given appropriate parental interest and support.