One Ride Forward, Two Steps Back - child development

[groovedaddy]

Dundee, Scotland

ARE forward-facing strollers having a negative effect on babies’ language development? British teachers have for some time been observing a decline in the linguistic abilities of many children, and some have wondered whether this might be one contributing factor.

There may be something in this idea. Babies who face ahead cannot see their parents or caregivers and thus have difficulty interacting with them. On loud city streets, babies may have trouble even hearing parents talking to them.

Neuroscience has shown that brains develop faster between birth and age 3 than during any other period of life, and that social interaction fosters such neurological development. So, if babies spend a significant amount of time during their early years in forward-facing strollers, might it impede their language learning?

Britain’s National Literacy Trust commissioned my research team to look into this question. No previous research had been carried out, and strollers, or “buggies” in British parlance, haven’t always faced forward. In the 19th century, they were designed so that infants faced the person pushing them. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that collapsible strollers emerged, with engineering constraints causing them to face forward.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/opinion/02zeedyk.html?th&emc=th

[Kali]

1. more likely it's the fucking television

or the fact that they are in day care and don't interact one on one enough, because the poor parents have to work all the damn time to stay above water

[Tumbulu]

3. I agree 100% (nt)

[Orrex]

2. No way. I'm sure it's vaccines.

After all, they're responsible for everything bad that happens to children.