ABC News reports that according to recent research conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, there is no evidence to support claims that educational videos aimed at toddlers and preschoolers actually help the child learn quicker or more effectively. The report actually warns that too much video watching for very young children may actually harm their development in regards to attention span and response to stimuli:

The report says there’s simply not enough scientific evidence to judge the benefits of educational products sold in the $100 million children’s developmental video and DVD market. In addition, there’s no government standard or definition for “educational.” . . . The report suggested that a key factor is how the products are used.

It cited a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics on the importance of “direct interactions with parents and other … caregivers … for healthy brain growth and the development of appropriate social, emotional and cognitive skills.”

Yet most of the 11 DVDs examined “had an option of allowing the disc to be played continuously, looping back to the beginning automatically … something seemingly designed to facilitate repeated independent viewing rather than parent-child co-viewing,” the report said.

As the parent of a first-grader and as an educator myself, I think the last couple of sentences are very important. That is, parents cannot rely on these videos alone producing any educational benefit for their children. Instead, parents need to watch the videos with their children and to talk about what they’re seeing, hearing, and learning.

Like many other aspects of family life in contemporary American society, too many parents seemingly look for quick and convenient solutions on how to interact with their children. For economic survival, they may have to work long hours and are too exhausted to spend significant one-on-one time with their children and to help them learn. That’s why many parents rely on video games, DVDs, computers, and the Internet as substitutes for parent-child time.

Now, I’m not saying that all parents who buy these educational videos for their kids are using it as a substitute for spending face-to-face time with their kids. But there is the potential for overdependence here -- many parents may be relying too much on technology as an “all-purpose” solution to the fact that they don’t have the time or energy to spend quality time with their kids.

If that’s the case and at the risk of sounding like a conservative Republican here, all the technology in the world will never make up for lost personal interaction between parents and their children. These educational videos can be a potentially useful tool, but like the study suggests, they aren’t necessarily the magic potion that will turn your toddler into the next Einstein.