Many want a baby-genius, and sometimes it seems that the obsession that the baby learns as soon as possible can lead to ridiculous extremes. Until there is businesses that ensure that the baby can read at nine months. Or there was.
“Your baby can read” is the website that proposed that children could learn reading at such a young age. If we now visit its website we see that the business is no longer operational, but not before going through a judicial process that has invalidated it and forced to “return” the profits obtained.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has filed a lawsuit against the authors of the program, accusing them of false and misleading advertising for promoting their program in advertisements and product packaging as a tool to teach babies to read from nine months of age.
The “Your Baby Can Read” program It used a combination of videos, educational cards and animated books, and was widely advertised on television, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. It cost about 150 euros and was sold in retail stores across the country, including large chains such as Walmart and Babies R Us.
Those responsible for the company agreed to pay the charges, corresponding to the profits obtained since 2008, although that is simpler if we take into account that due to the financial situation of the company, in bankruptcy, they will not be able to face these payments.
The company, based in Carlsbad, California, announced earlier this year that it would close its doors because of the high cost of responding to the lawsuits against it. Not even the supposed studies that supported the effectiveness of the “method” have been proven.
Disney already had to return the money of its Baby Einstein products because they do not stimulate children's intelligence, although this giant has survived.
They will not be the last cases we hear about, because as long as there is demand, there will be “miraculous” products that ensure that our babies will be the best.
More than one million families had trusted "Your Baby Can Read" which ensured that the baby could read from the nine months. I already said it at the beginning: obsessing that the baby is the best and fastest in everything leads us to trust stupidities. Everything in its time, and cheaper.
