Sunday, July 30, 2017

Children and the Mozart effect (Post #2)

 I recently came back from a weekend with my sister and nephew and lo and behold, she had some of the Baby Einstein music playing in the background of her nursery. My sister is not dumb, far from it, I consider her to be one of the smartest people I know. However, after the lecture about the Mozart Effect and how there’s no proof or evidence behind it, I have to admit that the companies making this stuff really know how to push a product.


I’m not against playing Mozart for young children. Even now, after reading about the Mozart effect and its lack of evidence, I will still advocate playing Mozart for children, if only to let them experience wonderful music. However, I won’t play it for children thinking it will make them smarter.

Baby yoga is now a thing as well among hip New York parents. Yoga for adults has proven to have benefits as a stress relief, but for infants I’m rather skeptical of its benefits. 

Baby Yoga and Baby Einstein are just 2 activities that my sister is subjecting to my nephew and at most I’m ambivalent towards it. I can’t really be mad at Baby Einstein Mozart because while there isn’t evidence that it’s effective for infants and cognition, Mozart and classical music in general can be soothing for new parents. Likewise for baby yoga, new parents want to involve their children in many activities and this is a fun way to play with their child.

-Joon Lee-

2 comments:

  1. I like your take on this effect, just because it is proven to not be beneficial doesn't mean that it's harmful. Playing classical music and baby yoga may not help in making your child smarter but they are probably good ways to calm an upset child.

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  2. I really enjoyed reading about your response on this effect. I feel that yes children should be exposed to this music and it might be beneficial for them, although it won't necessarily turn out to be. Little Einstein portrays this music throughout the episodes.

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