>MUZZY.
>
As I sat back in my chair, a lazy smile spread across my face. All I had to do was buy a bunch of DVDs and let my kid start watching. In three months, she’d be a bilingual brainiac, practically guaranteed admission to an Ivy League school, and in the meantime I would have made my way through Little House on the Prairie Season One undisturbed. It was a win-win!
But I had to act quickly. There’s no such thing as “too young” for MUZZY, the brochure assured me, but if you wait, it could be too late. Disquieted, I looked at a picture of a bilingual two-year-old. “One day she spoke English-only,” her mom wrote, “The next day she was a bilingual wit!”
Oh she was cute all right, but I knew if I turned my back for a second, this bilingual wit would have edged out Baby in a regional quiz bowl, if MUZZY had anything to do with it!
“I must have MUZZY,” I whispered with grim determination. Preferably MUZZY Mandarin- My friends would be so jealous! I pored through the catalog, looking for prices. Strangely, the cost of the program wasn’t listed- only an offer to “borrow” a MUZZY language set for 30 days -and eleven dollars.
So I got online and found the original MUZZY website, where language sets were being offered at the low, low price of…
Um. $200. And that was just for the first level.
Dumbfounded, I stared at a MUZZY group portrait. Stupid American, the smiling family seemed to say. Did you really think we’d let just anyone in on our genius-making language program? No MUZZY for you, Beeyotch! Now out of our way- We’re off to Gstaad!
Sadly, unless I either get a book deal or win Wheel of Fortune within the next year or so, it looks like Baby’s window of language opportunity, now wide open, will close forever, dooming her to a life spent mopping the floors of some fast food joint, clad in a polyester uniform that, ironically, was made in China. And she was so close to being brilliant, too.
Thanks, MUZZY. For nada.
>We get these brochures, too, and I’m always amazed at the blatant “MUZZY will get your child into an ivy league college” vibe, especially since the quotes and testimonials are so vague and kind of…lukewarm. I liked the one quote in that brochure where the student said she spent a summer with a family that spoke no English and she got along “fine.” Fine? As in, “How’ve you been, Stan?” “Fine, thanks. How ’bout you, Ed?” “Fine, fine.” Maybe my son can man the drive through window at that fast food restaurant where Baby will be employed. She’ll probably be his manager.
>LOL! I just had to laugh when I saw your subject… I knew who “Muzzy” was before I even read the entry.:o) I didn’t do “Muzzy” as an infant/toddler (which could be why I’m a struggling 30yo community college student now…) but we did have to watch Muzzy French when I took French in high school. Yeah. I remember maybe 5 words in French and the only thing I remember about Muzzy was that those cartoons were damn scary!!
>It’s all over my parenting magazines right now and we’ve received two brochures in the mail. You’d think with that much advertising they could update the 1970s cartoon like characters. Eesh.
>Like mamaof4, we watched MUZZY in high school French. He freaked me out. “Je suis MOOO-ZEEEEE.”
>Bummer. And it seemed so promising, with the instant results and all.
>The best thing you can do is have your kid watch Sesame Street in another language. Constantly. I mean, isn’t that how we all learned everything?
>Maybe split the cost with another mom and share the cds? Ask some moms in your playgroup?
>Am I the only one who had never heard of Muzzy??
>I remember using Muzzy in my High School spanish class. We got it (in spanish) for our almost 3 yr old and she loves it. We must be 1 of the rare people but it really works. Yes, the set is annoying but it is effective. Now I dont see Harvard in her future but at 2-3yrs old she knows more spanish then a lot of people.
>I’m married to a high school Spanish teacher. He’s taught a number of middle and HS kids who did Muzzy when they were younger, and doesn’t think it really gave any of them a leg up. Most of the kids have forgotten everything but the alphabet, numbers and a very few conversational phrases by the time they end up in his class. I guess it could possibly help if you were to then regularly put the kid into situations where others are speaking that language, but how many of us can do that?
>Well, I don’t see any difference between this and spending hundreds on Baby Einstein DVDs and Leapfrog “educational toys”. I just don’t see how puppets bobbing along to classical music on TV are going to make a kid smarter when they can listen to the music for free on the radio while interacting with another human being.To each their own, I guess.
>You can get MUZZY on ebay.
>I have a Muzzy CD in German. I never really looked at it (it was a gift), but my son watched the videos. I didn’t like them. They do teach some phrases, but it all moves too fast. And the story is really scary! Especially for really little ones. I felt bad, but I just don’t let my kids watch it. My son is learning Spanish in school anyway and it’s an immersion approach. He learned more Spanish having class once a week for 8 weeks than he did watching Muzzy every day or every few days for months. I’m not sold on it at all. Just my two cents. 🙂
>YOIKS!$200?!?!?!I was all, let me know what you think of it until I gathered an understanding it’s only meant for the wealthier classes than mine. ;)I like Jennifer’s suggestion but I am pretty sure au pairs cost even more than Muzzy.Luckily my kids live in a bilingual area and their schools are all naturally bilingual. They speak fluent spanglish and english.
>We checked it out of our local library.I actually though it was kind of creepy. It was all about this robber who was stealing things out of a kitchen.My son wasn’t thrilled with it either.I have several friends who love this series though.I would try my library before shilling out $200.
>Hmmmmm….. maybe you can still win at Wheel of Fortune…my bets are with Vanna….
>For the love of God, don’t tell Lucinda to check ANYTHING out of the library. She has 1 bazillion dollars in late fees, causing her to incur the wrath of every librarian this side of the Mississippi. ;)Better to buy on ebay or borrow from a friend.
>I’m still catching up on the circumcision comments . . . but your posts are always amusing.
>We got to watch Muzzy in middle school french class. To this day I speak, um…English.It was just a cartoon to us, didn’t teach us much…or maybe I just didn’t pay attention…
>You aren’t alone, Karly. I too had never heard of this overpriced, overrated piece of parental pressure. I am so tired of everyone in the world telling me how to make my children geniuses. Stop the insanity.
>I got the same thing in the mail yesterday! I’ve gotten it before & it always makes me laugh….
>quick! quick! you MUST send away for it. cos our children aren’t QUITE good enough. and the only way to rectify this is to spend a shedload of money. thank god for muzzy, eh?
>I actually was suckered into buying it when my oldest child was little. I probably have it laying around all dusty if anyone wants it. My kids thought it was funny, but never learned anything from it.
>You know, I could be wrong about this, but if I’m not mistaken, Harvard’s colors are crimson and white — not that purple tone your Muzzy model is sporting above. Does that mean (GASP!) that it might be a fake T-shirt and that maybe she didn’t actually go to Harvard?!?! Hmmmmm…. Or course it’s possible it’s real, and that Muzzy will make your child get into Harvard — just like it did for the model. But it’s so much more fun to think about the alternatives.
>Check on Ebay – there’s loads of Muzzys on there for cheap prices as loads of us have tried it and found it was a pile of steaming dung ;)We got the Spanish version and my kids picked up more Spanish from Dora than they ever did Muzzy…
>Just to let you know, my siblings and I all used Muzzy italian before we came to Italy (my father is in the military; we just got transferred) and it helped us so much. I know, it’s expensive, but it works!
>My friends and I used Muzzy when we were in school and loved it. I don’t know how much it did on its own, or what effect it would have outside of a classroom setting (since we were in French class, Muzzy wasn’t the only French we were getting – the teacher had some impact as well, I’m sure) so I can’t speak to that… but I can say that we’re all still nostalgic for the videos and quote lines or songs to this day. As far as the cost is concerned, if you’re seriously considering a foreign-language course for your kid you’re going to be looking at something around at least $200 no matter where you turn. Have you seen the Rosetta Stone series?? Before you complain about the cost of this series, do some comparison shopping. I’m sure there are most cost-efficient options out there, but even a four-disc “learn while you drive” package from Barnes&Noble is not far from $100 (and you’re getting far less interactive materials).If you seriously want to talk storylines, what sort of things do your kids watch that a “bad guy” stealing things out of a kitchen is horribly inappropriate and unacceptable? For those unfamiliar with the plot, a giant green alien shows up and spends time with a king, queen, princess, creepy bad guy, and noble handiman. Corvax (sp?) the villain hardly brings anything to the table that Pokemon doesn’t blast violently out of the water within the opening credits… I don’t understand complaints of “it’s too scary” when far worse is played out on the Disney Channel every day (Kim Possible? Danny Phantom? I could go on…)Bottom line, for what’s out there, this is an enjoyable product. I’m almost 30 and want to learn Italian; Muzzy was the first thing I searched for, since I remembered loving it so much 20 years ago when I studied French. And p.s. I was fluent in the language and went to a very well known college. I don’t attribute either to Muzzy, any more than I attribute anything in my life to any single study aid that I ever used. Life’s cumulative people…
>Awww. A Muzzombie.
>Aww. A clever blogger.