if i only had a brain.

I'm not going to get too 'splain-y about the Your Baby Can Read program I'm in the midst of reviewing for PBN.  You see, there is no need.  It's very simple.  We cracked open the box with all of the cards and the dvds, and when I slid the cards out and went through them initially for J, by the time we'd reached the "tiger" card, he'd decided he was ready to delight his parents and/or scare the poopy tar out of us.

I held up the card.  He looked at it.  He said, VERY clearly, "TIGAH."  And my husband and I both proceeded, as one would expect in such a circumstance, in a deliberate, calm fashion, to experience simultaneous cardiac arrest.  Or, you know, to note that the other spouse's eyes had begun to rise waaaaaay outside of the designated ocular zone.  In an excessively creepy manner (because, yes, there is such a thing as excessively creepy).

The cards are really nice.  The words, ones like "cats" and "clap" are written in a super-simple, large font, and when you pull on the sliding end, a picture of the word appears.  He likes the cards.  A lot.  He walks around with the various ones, sliding the picture out and laughing the over the thing it's called.  He chuckles, "noooooossse" (nose), and "ahms uppp" (arms up).

I try to take the cards and stack them together at the end of playtime and put them away with the dvd, and he kind of freaks out.  They have a special spot in his toybox and I am mandated to respect said location.  Under threat of mushroom-cloud tantrum.  (I'm no fool.  I let him keep the cards in the toybox.)

The dvd, a clear, repetitive coordinated set of visual/aural aids for the cards, is harder for him to watch because he loses interest after awhile.  This is not his fault.  This is not the fault of the creator of the dvd.  This is my my husband's fault.  You see, the creator of the product explains clearly the need for the child to watch limited amounts of education-focused programming outside of the YBCR instructional dvds.  So the fact that J is allowed to watch almost every Pixar movie ever made, as well as most of the Disney films in existence, on a pretty regular basis, kind of prohibits his attention span from being anything but toast from the get-go.  Hi.  I own this one.  I'm a crap parent.  *bows low*

So this post is a two-fer; you get the information about the really awesome YBCR product, that I sincerely  recommend, because it's made my child literate from the moment that we broke the seal on the package, and because I've gotten to dump a confession out about how the sucktasticness of my momming skills has increased tenfold in the last few months.

Awesome.

Comments

[Mignon]

Do you have to say nice things? Just curious. I'd be wary of any product geared toward reading that came with a DVD. I mean, uh, shouldn't, like, PARENTS be working with the child instead of a disembodied voice inside a television box?

[Jenny]

Oh I don't know...Disembodies voices in the tv are some of my best friends.

Wait...those aren't coming from the tv?

Crap.

PS. I tagged you. Feel free to ignore me.

[motherbumper]

Not crap parent because if you are than I must admit I am too and there is no way in heck I'm doing that. Since I have the same product and done my review I must agree with all you say (except B can't read ... yet) but damn if she doesn't love those cards and she too has a special place that we pay hell if we don't put them back just.so. Now if they only had a DVD on "Teach Your Parents to Leave Comments that don't involve run on sentences".

[Cristina]

Was there a picture of a tiger on the card or did he actually read the word "tiger"? I'm assuming the latter, which is uh, WOW! That is seriously amazing.

[Jennifer]

OK... when I read clap, I thought of the disease... I was all, what the heck?... and then... I remembered that it's the thing where you put two hands together. THAT's the thing that small children like to do.

Obviously, I've been reading too much John Irving... or something

[jaelithe]

My son also watches too much Pixar. Guilty, guilty.

(And the first written symbol he ever recognized? The Disney logo. YIKES.)

(Do I get points because he can spell the words "Stop" and "Go" with his bath letters all on his own now, though? Do I?)

[Juno888]

but damn if she doesn't love those cards and she too has a special place that we pay hell if we don't put them back just.so. Now if they only had a DVD on "Teach Your Parents to Leave Comments that don't involve run on sentences".