Stroller Science
Posted by Danielle Bean in News on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 11:30 AM
Have you heard about the recent study that shows babies get “stressed out” when riding in forward-facing strollers?
“Parents who choose a stroller that seats their baby facing away from them could risk long-term development problems in their children.”
When I first heard about this latest bit of parenting news, I thought that perhaps “science” could also prove that reading guilt-inducing studies about all the ways you’re messing your kid up for life without even realizing it “stresses out” mothers.
When I read the article more closely, though, it actually made quite a bit of sense to me.
“Our experimental study showed that, simply by turning the buggy around, parents’ rate of talking to their baby doubled,” said developmental psychologist Suzanne Zeedyk, who led the research.
Of course babies like to look at their mothers and feel most secure when they can see them. Of course mothers are more likely to interact with their babies when they are face-to-face. Of course babies will be calmer and happier when they have more frequent interaction with their parents.
But also ... of course (and this is the part I wish more news reports would include) it’s going to take a lot more than riding in a forward-facing stroller to mess up someone for life.
Sometimes I don’t know what to make of this parenting science. It’s helpful to know things about babies’ development and emotions, but it’s extraordinarily unhelpful to work parents up in a frenzy of fear about all the ways they might be “messing up their kids.”
Dr. Ray Guarendi has book called You’re a Better Parent Than You Think!
Parenting is not a science. It’s an art and a day by day commitment. Just like love.
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
