What About Granny Einstein?

My little great nephew, Griffin Wilson, (is he a cute kid or what?) celebrated his first birthday this week. At a loss at what to send as a birthday gift for a one-year-old, I asked several people for suggestions. The idea I liked the best was a Baby Einstein DVD.

Although I hesitate to advocate using the TV as a babysitter, my friend Maureen assured me that the DVDs are great when you need to take a shower. I talked to my niece (Griffin’s mom) later and she told me that he loves his Baby Einstein videos. “He doesn’t normally pay any attention to the TV,” she said, “but when his Baby Einstein video comes on, he is immediately drawn to it.” His interest is so intense, in fact, that she wonders if there’s some kind of subliminal messages included, although she didn’t know what a subliminal message for a baby might be. Griffin is currently learning sign language from his signing video.

It led me to wonder where are the Granny Einstein products? If these are such good learning tools, why are they only made for tiny tots?

Maybe Video Professor is at the other end of the spectrum, although they focus exclusively on computer skills and there are plenty of other topics I’d like to learn. YouTube is filling in the gap. Want to learn about investing, time management or losing weight, chances are good that somebody out there has posted a video on that topic on YouTube. Here’s one of my favorites about the perils of PowerPoint.

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