As a mother to a now one-year-old, I create a lot of my quiet time by tuning the cable-box to the Sprout channel. While my son may not know what the people are really saying, he enjoys the bright colors, lively music and overall tone of the shows. I end up singing the songs after they've been drilled in my head, but it's the price I pay for some time to myself.
The commercials are geared towards parents looking to improve their child's learning abilities, or sometimes a quick fix to a cleaning problem. For the purposes of this conversation, I would like to focus on the learning tools. Particularly, Muzzy.
"What is a Muzzy?" you may ask. It is a program designed to teach children another language. The commercial is chock full of children spouting Russian, Italian and even African dialects. Without knowing exactly how it works, it seems like a smart idea. Today's children will grow up expected to know computer programs that our generation only became exposed to in our college years. I mean computer classes in high school consisted of typing and learning how to create a game using the "Basic" programming language. Is that even still in existence?
My resistance to this process is the idea that I may become one of those moms. Will I try to get my child into the best schools and activities to ensure they make it into the best college? Having done this once before with my older child, I feel like I missed out on giving him some of the advantages he should have gotten. I didn't read as much as I should have. Is that why he hates reading? Is it genetic due to his father (it definitely doesn't come from my side)?!
What is truly useful for my child versus the education overkill? Am I alone in this debate?
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