The NYT has a bizarre op-ed today by a lecturer at the University of Dundee about how front-facing baby strollers may be detrimental to children's development. The piece talks about the crucialness of adult-child interaction and how kids in front-facing strollers, obviously, aren't gazing up at mummy's face as they ride along.
No matter that, as even the author notes, kids don't spend that much of their day cruising around in strollers. We still need to be anxious because:
...anecdotal evidence suggests that babies can easily spend a couple of hours a day in them. And research tells us that children's vocabulary development is governed almost entirely by the daily conversations parents have with them. When a stroller pusher can't easily see the things that attract a baby's attention, valuable opportunities for interaction can be missed.
I'm sorry, but this is Example #12,536 of how neurotic, obsessive superparenting is ruining the world. If you can't take a breath and stop worrying about how every single moment of your child's day contributes to his/her development for the length of time it takes to push the baby around the freaking park, you need stronger meds.
You'd think the NYT would have better things to make its readers paranoid about these days--such as whether any of them will be able to afford the tuition at a top-tier university on the off chance that Junior somehow overcomes his front-stroller-based upbringing and manages to get accepted.
--Michelle Cottle