Bedtime Beat Baby

[andycal]

My son is just two years old and goes to playgroup for a couple of hours every week. He's a clever lad who likes a bedtime story, to sing and when mom's away, watch "The Simpson's" (hooray for me!).

Anyway, we picked him up today and they have given him something called a "Bedtime Beat Baby". This is a soft toy and a book of nursery rhymes. We were told that it helps kids get to sleep and pick up reading quickly.

It then goes on to say that rhymes, being rhythmic are processed by the right side of the brain, language by the left - so they're basically using all of the brain.

As far as I can see, there's nothing that bad about all of this (except the right/left brain stuff - is that true?), at most it's a marketing ploy, but is there any science to say rhymes actually help?

I'm just an impressionable dad, I'd hate to think a book company could be exploiting me.

[scarlettinlondon]

Hi, this is my area of expertise (language and communication senior specialist educational psychologist)

Generally it is very true, children who are read to a lot will pick up reading quicker. children who are read rhymes with have a greater facility with developing phonic awareness and ability to manipulate sounds in words and therefore read better themselves.

The good news it that it doesn't have to be a bedtime beat baby (bizarre, my first thought it that it encouraged you to beat babies and children if they don't go to bed on time) The very BEST thing you can do is read to your child every day, let them see you reading, and read notices etc wherever you go together. No frills required. I would hate to think that the doll actually plays a sound or a rhythmic noise, that would be horrible.

hope that helps

[scarlettinlondon]

oh, and also nursery rhymes/folk tales are culture specific, also an enormous help in learning to read. Any Fule Kno that Once upon a ........ is followed by time, this is beacuse you heard stories as a child, this helps you to pick up the rythm and phrases in your home language and culture and therefore read them faster and quicker. Hooray!

[scarlettinlondon]

The getting to sleep bit is, quite frankly, probably a load of old pants. But it's a problem that parents want solved so why not let their lovely marketing people tack it onto reading. Hooray for us, we have solved the reading AND the sleeping crisis all in one lovely toy for only 29.99 from Walmart......

[Foolmewunz]

Purely anecdotal, but my daughter loved nursery rhymes so much that she'd happily get ready for bed in order to get read to. Alas, it hyped her up, and she wouldn't go to sleep for at least an hour.

The exposure to rhymes and songs is great for kids developing language skills, but the routine of doing it at bedtime is a not-so-subtle way of getting them to anticipate getting to bed at a certain point and getting them onto some semblance of a schedule. It's a wee bit manipulative, sure... but forming good habits is certainly better than bad ones.

ETA: Oh, and if it is such a sleep aid, why wouldn't your kids fall asleep listening to nursery rhymes when you do so at other times of the day? Marketing ploy wrapped in a little bit of truth - ultimately harmless, but buy your own Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss books for the li'l fellow.

[andycal]

Hi, this is my area of expertise (language and communication senior specialist educational psychologist)

Generally it is very true, children who are read to a lot will pick up reading quicker. children who are read rhymes with have a greater facility with developing phonic awareness and ability to manipulate sounds in words and therefore read better themselves.

The good news it that it doesn't have to be a bedtime beat baby (bizarre, my first thought it that it encouraged you to beat babies and children if they don't go to bed on time) The very BEST thing you can do is read to your child every day, let them see you reading, and read notices etc wherever you go together. No frills required. I would hate to think that the doll actually plays a sound or a rhythmic noise, that would be horrible.

hope that helps

Thanks for this! We always read to him at night, sometimes a bit of singing too and he loves it. He gets into bed and says "story!" before lying down and waiting for us to get a book.

The oddest thing about the beat baby thing was that they'd taken some nursery ryhmes and changed them to include the words "Bedtime Beat Baby" in them - they blatently didn't rhyme and were difficult even to read, I couldn't see what they were getting at with that.

The doll doesn't make a sound thank god!

[andycal]

ETA: Oh, and if it is such a sleep aid, why wouldn't your kids fall asleep listening to nursery rhymes when you do so at other times of the day? Marketing ploy wrapped in a little bit of truth - ultimately harmless, but buy your own Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss books for the li'l fellow.

My thoughts exactly. It was basically a toy and a book of stories. We have plenty of toys and books, what a stroke of genius to put them together and charge double!

[scarlettinlondon]

The oddest thing about the beat baby thing was that they'd taken some nursery ryhmes and changed them to include the words "Bedtime Beat Baby" in them - they blatently didn't rhyme and were difficult even to read, I couldn't see what they were getting at with that.



This is HILARIOUS, I mean REALLY?

Twinkle twinkle little Bedtime Beat Baby, How I wonder what you are?

Baa Baa Bedtime beat Baby, Have you any wool?

Surely NOT!!!!!

[scarlettinlondon]

ALSO I am struggling to find many rhymes.

At a push you could use Rabies.

Twinkle Twinkle little Bedtime Beat Baby
How I wonder if you have rabies

[Professor Yaffle]

rabies?




scabies?




maybes.

[Foolmewunz]

This thread reminds me - Christmas is coming. My daughter's favorite rhyme/poem was The Night Before Christmas. I can almost recite it verbatim as I'm typing this.

I think my son's going to be too young at just about fifteen months, but he's already trying to sing along with Elmo and gets the tune right (but not the words), so he might be ready for it. (If not - to hell with him!:spjimlad: I love it and love reading it to my kid(s).)

[Foolmewunz]

T'was the night before Christmas
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even a ..... Bedtime Beat Baby !


It's just that you cannot keep saying or typing or thinking that phrase without laughing. It's just so stupid. I'll offer a silent prayer to the FSM that it doesn't catch on. (Then again, I always said they'd never sell recordings of babbling brooks to people who needed to relax, and they're still going strong.)

[andycal]

This is HILARIOUS, I mean REALLY?

Twinkle twinkle little Bedtime Beat Baby, How I wonder what you are?

Baa Baa Bedtime beat Baby, Have you any wool?

Surely NOT!!!!!

Erm. Yes. That's exactly what it's like. Quite horrible.

[Audible Click]

T'was the night before Christmas
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even a ..... Bedtime Beat Baby !



Ruldolph The Red Nosed Beat Baby!

[bpesta22]

I remember reading a meta analysis about 10 years ago that claimed the effect size on cognitive development from reading to your kids was zero.

The left/right brain thing is way over-played. From what I remember, if you son is right handed, with no family history of left-handedness then it's very likely he processes language exclusively in the left hemisphere. For women and lefties, it's more both sides.