New York – What direction does your child’s stroller face? New research raises questions about stroller design and the role it may play in a child’s language development.
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M. Suzanne Zeedyk, a senior lecturer in developmental psychology at the University of Dundee in Scotland, studied the way 2,700 families interact with their infants and toddlers while pushing them in strollers. She found that caregivers were less likely to speak to infants when the child was facing forward, compared with strollers where the baby faces the caregiver — what she calls a toward-facing journey. In a small controlled experiment, the researchers gave 20 mothers and infants ages 9 to 24 months a chance to use both types of strollers, and recorded their conversations. She wrote about her findings in a recent Op-Ed article in The Times.
Mothers talked to their children twice as much during the 15-minute toward-facing journey, and they also laughed more. The babies laughed more, too.
Of course, infants do not spend all their time in strollers, but 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.
Ms. Zeedyk notes that forward-facing strollers are a relatively new development. In the 19th century, strollers were designed so that infants faced the person pushing them. But the development of convenient collapsible strollers changed that, because engineering constraints required the baby to face forward to look at the world, rather than a parent or caregiver.
Ms. Zeedyk notes that her findings raise more questions than answers, but she hopes stroller manufacturers will work to develop a collapsible stroller that faces both ways.
Meanwhile, the findings already encourage us to think again about how babies experience stroller rides — and other forms of transportation like car seats, shopping carts and slings. Parents needn’t feel worried, but instead curious about the elements of the environment that attract their children’s interest. The core message of our findings is simple: Talk to your baby whenever you get the chance — and whichever direction your stroller faces.
To read the full report, go to “One Ride Forward, Two Steps Back.” Then please join the discussion below.
I agree 100%. when my baby is not facing me. i don’t see her or talk to her, which is not good. thanks to the bugaboo i can have her facing me & she can see other ppl. to!
Go with the bugaboo. It faces both ways. If you’re in the mood of chatting with your baby, face him/her toward you. Otherwise face him toward the street.
It’s also good for the baby concerning the sun.
you dont need to spend for the bugaboo for that. there are lots of cheaper carriages that you can also have it that way
It’s not only the bugaboo which you can turn around both ways..there are plenty of carriages out there that you can put either way.
This bugaboo fan feels she ownes the world with her bugaboo at least let her think so, for the price she paid for this carriage that the child could not be wider then a certain inch.
please, these babies are probably happy to have a little break from mommy to check out the rest of the velt.
The Valco stroller also face both ways
my oldest daughter had a stroller that only faced the street, she’s the biggest yente. My middle child, always faced me in our stroller and she’s the shyest little girl. where does that take me? Should I sue bugaboo?
I haev the Uppa Baby and it faces both ways, costs a LOT less than the Bugaboo, has more features and a fabulous sun shade. Check it out!