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Is putting your child in a front-facing stroller stunning his growth?
We’ve heard studies also that show that small babies cannot process the sensory overload of looking forward as they stroll. Millions of years of experience have prepared babies to stare only at their mother’s chest or back as they are carried around. Suddenly, we are forcing them to drive around knee-high looking at everything coming straight at them. Now,
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?
[From Op-Ed Contributor - One Ride Forward, Two Steps Back - NYTimes.com]
