Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Baby Einstein & George Bush

Falsely Marketed Baby Videos Have Odd New Fan: President Bush

The following is the statement of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in response to President Bush using his January 23rd, 2007 State of the Union address to promote the Baby Einstein video series. During his speech, the President lauded Baby Einstein's founder, Julie Aigner-Clark, as an example of "the heroic kindness, courage and self-sacrifice of the American people," and described the success of Baby Einstein in detail. In 2006, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint against Baby Einstein (make sure this link remains active) for false and deceptive marketing; that complaint is pending.

"It is extremely disappointing that the President used his State of the Union address to provide a free infomercial for a company built on false and deceptive marketing. Despite its claims, there is no evidence that watching Baby Einstein videos is educational for babies and toddlers.

The President claimed that Ms. Aigner-Clark "represents the great enterprising spirit of America." We respectfully disagree. We don't believe that preying on parents' concerns about their children's well-being; deceiving customers about a product's benefits; or exploiting our youngest and most vulnerable children should have any role in the American marketplace. Research suggests that —for babies—TV viewing may be harmful. It's been found to interfere with cognitive development, language development and regular sleep patterns. The more time babies spend in front of TV, the less time they spend engaging in two activities that really do facilitate learning: interacting with parents away from screens, and spending time in creative play.

TV viewing can also be habituating. For older children, hours of television watched are linked to bullying, poor school performance and childhood obesity.

Despite these concerns, more babies are spending more time in front of televisions than ever. They do so, in part, because well-financed sophisticated marketing campaigns insure that we've all heard of Baby Einstein. Meanwhile, only 6% of parents are aware of that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under two.

Americans would be much better served if the President used the bully pulpit to promote the AAP's recommendation rather than promoting a company whose marketing deceives parents into believing that it's educational to plop babies in front of screens.

To learn more about CCFC's FTC complaint against Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby and BabyFirstTV, please visit: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/babyvideos/ftccomplaint.htm.

If you have not yet signed our petition to the FTC urging them to investigate our complaint, please visit: http://www.democracyinaction.org.


Source: www.commercialfreechildhood.org

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Life Changes - again

2 weeks into the new job... so much is changing, and so fast. The job is good, I like my co-workers and my boss, etc. which doesn't suck. Dex is doing well at her day care. I've still got my BF. I still have a roof over my head.

Ah. Speaking of my roof.

I met w/ my accountant yesterday and given my house payments vs. my income ratio - now that I have a child to support solely on said middlin' income - there is no way I can manage the mortgage, child care costs, diapers, etc. and have even a dollar left over for food or gasoline, etc. so the house is gonna have to go. I feel kind of relieved actually, as much as I love my little house and all the things I've done to it, etc. the weight of that Mortgage Monkey had gotten pretty heavy. The good news is that I think I already have a buyer and if all goes well, I could be accepting an offer within 2 weeks and be moved out 45 days or so after that. Will probably move in w/ my elderly father for a while, at least until I can get back on my feet and figure out what the hell I'm doing. It won't be great, but it will be cheap, and that's the SMART thing to do for right now. It's not just about me anymore, it's about this little girl o'mine.

Speaking of being a mom... my own mother has taken a turn for the worse. She has stopped feeding herself. Of course, in the overall progression of Alzheimer's this could mean very little -- this disease really is the long good bye, often taking as long as 20 years from start to finish. She's about 11 years into this thing, so even though she has definitely declined considerably in the past few months, there may be quite a long way to go yet. This is mostly fine for mom - she is well taken care of and loved where she is. But for me, her daughter, it's beyond painful to watch.

Well, that's really all I've got to say for right now. I need to get up and at'em for the day, even though I've officially been up since 5am, it's shower and get out of the house time! HAHA.

My last thought for today... please hug the ones you love really tightly. You never know, they may not be here tomorrow.

C ~

Monday, January 8, 2007

Hi Ho, Hi Ho... it's back to work I go!


I start my new job tomorrow (Tuesday)... I'm going to be a Public Relations Coordinator. I'm scared to death, excited, nervous, etc. Hope I'll do okay. Hope they'll like me. Hope I'll like them!

The End.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Working Girl

Looks like I'm gonna be a working girl again as early as next week. Pending their background check, I have accepted an offer for a Temp-to-Hire position at a large corporation here in Long Beach. I'll give you more details when I'm absolutely certain it's a done deal.

Thanks everyone for sending me your prayers, good wishes, high level positive energy waves, etc. B/c it worked! I'm employed, and now I'll be able to take care of my daughter and my bills. What a wonderful gift that is!

Peace out.