Week 6

Extreme Parenting by Alissa Quart

This article discussed the Motzart Effect and the resulting business of "Baby Motzart." This article really interested me because an entire marketing scheme and business is built around one experiment that is not very reliable.

The experiment was done by researchers at UC Irvine and it involved students listening to either Motzart, a relaxation tape, or silence. Then the students took a paper folding and cutting test. The students who had listened to Motzart did better on the test than the other two groups. The researchers came to the conclusion that "listening to Motzart improved the students' short-term spacial thinking."

The part of this article that is really interesting is that no other researchers can come up with the same results of the original experiment. An entire business of "Baby Einstein" products has been introdeced and consumed by the masses all based on an experiment that showed that after listening to Motzart, some students could cut and fold paper better.

I think that this industry is basing their prodects off of the ffear of parents. Parents want their child to be the best and brightest. They want to as much as they can so that their child can achieve the greatest in life. Parents are scared of failing and these products scare them even more. Some of these parents are influenced by these products to stimulate their baby as much as possible. But as this article says, infant brain cell death is actually good for a baby and it is a way "the nervous system refines its circuit."

The Baby Einstein products also ensure the parents that their baby will not be bored and that having a bored baby will stunt their brain development. But in reality this article shows that boredom is good for a baby. It allows them to find activities that interest them and to develop skills that they are naturally good at.

This whole article of Extreme Parenting is almost amusing because I never had any exposure to these Baby Einstein products and I always earned good grades and got into a great college. Parents are just scared that if they do not gove their kids all of the possible opportunities and stimulation, that they will be the responsible part when their child fails at something. I find it funny that an etire money making business empire is profiting off of parents' fears and one sketchy experiment.