Front-facing buggies blamed for poor speech development
Discussion
I've heard this claimed before.
Apparently it is important for the baby’s mental development to maintain eye contact with their parents rather than simply stare into space.
Front-facing buggies blamed for poor speech development
By Catherine Humble and James Orr
(Filed: 11/12/2005)
Modern buggies which seat children facing away from their parents could be impeding the development of youngsters' speech, research has found.
Dozens of pushchairs are now designed in such a way that babies can no longer see the adult pushing them because they are facing forward.
Experts claim that old-fashioned prams played a crucial role in developing children's language skills because they had direct eye contact with the adults pushing them.
Now some children can spend several hours a day staring into space rather than watching and learning from their parents.
Researchers from the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity seeking to raise literacy standards, surveyed 800 parents and health workers.
Their study showed that 89 per cent of their sample agreed that they would talk to their baby more if the child faced them in their buggy.
Last night, Liz Attenborough, chairwoman of Talk to Your Baby, a campaign run by the National Literacy Trust, said face-to-face contact was essential to speech development.
She claimed their research into pushchairs had shown that children's speech development could be adversely affected by forward-facing buggies. One parent told the study: "My 11-month-old daughter is very chatty, but I've noticed that she falls silent after about 10 minutes in her forward-facing buggy despite my best efforts to respond to her chats."
Ms Attenborough said: "With the introduction of the buggy in the 1970s, where the child faced away from the parent for the first time, fundamental time spent on practising to speak has been lost."
The traditional carriage-built pram was introduced in 1877 by William Wilson who founded the Silver Cross company in Leeds. Today the market in Britain is worth £185 million a year, with top-of-the-range models costing up to £1,000.
Yesterday, the National Literacy Trust said that it had approached several buggy manufacturers to ask them to consider designing rear-facing models.
Maclaren, a leading pushchair manufacturer, said in a statement that it would be "launching pushchairs with reversible seats in 2006, allowing them to be 'parent facing'."
Apparently it is important for the baby’s mental development to maintain eye contact with their parents rather than simply stare into space.
Front-facing buggies blamed for poor speech development
By Catherine Humble and James Orr
(Filed: 11/12/2005)
Modern buggies which seat children facing away from their parents could be impeding the development of youngsters' speech, research has found.
Dozens of pushchairs are now designed in such a way that babies can no longer see the adult pushing them because they are facing forward.
Experts claim that old-fashioned prams played a crucial role in developing children's language skills because they had direct eye contact with the adults pushing them.
Now some children can spend several hours a day staring into space rather than watching and learning from their parents.
Researchers from the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity seeking to raise literacy standards, surveyed 800 parents and health workers.
Their study showed that 89 per cent of their sample agreed that they would talk to their baby more if the child faced them in their buggy.
Last night, Liz Attenborough, chairwoman of Talk to Your Baby, a campaign run by the National Literacy Trust, said face-to-face contact was essential to speech development.
She claimed their research into pushchairs had shown that children's speech development could be adversely affected by forward-facing buggies. One parent told the study: "My 11-month-old daughter is very chatty, but I've noticed that she falls silent after about 10 minutes in her forward-facing buggy despite my best efforts to respond to her chats."
Ms Attenborough said: "With the introduction of the buggy in the 1970s, where the child faced away from the parent for the first time, fundamental time spent on practising to speak has been lost."
The traditional carriage-built pram was introduced in 1877 by William Wilson who founded the Silver Cross company in Leeds. Today the market in Britain is worth £185 million a year, with top-of-the-range models costing up to £1,000.
Yesterday, the National Literacy Trust said that it had approached several buggy manufacturers to ask them to consider designing rear-facing models.
Maclaren, a leading pushchair manufacturer, said in a statement that it would be "launching pushchairs with reversible seats in 2006, allowing them to be 'parent facing'."
How many hours a day does a child spend in a buggy? Is it every day?
Honestly, the crap some people dream up and call research!
Kids spend most of their day either at home with a parental, or in some educational/play establishment interacting with adults and other kids. They're not strapped in prams and pushchairs 8 hours a day are they? FFS where do they get this crap from?!
Next they'll be saying "Don't let your kids have a nap in the afternoon because it means they're not interacting and so will develop autism." Or something.
Honestly, the crap some people dream up and call research!
Kids spend most of their day either at home with a parental, or in some educational/play establishment interacting with adults and other kids. They're not strapped in prams and pushchairs 8 hours a day are they? FFS where do they get this crap from?!
Next they'll be saying "Don't let your kids have a nap in the afternoon because it means they're not interacting and so will develop autism." Or something.
nubbin said:
How many hours a day does a child spend in a buggy? Is it every day?
Honestly, the crap some people dream up and call research!
I suppose it depends on the parent's habits.
It could very easily be an hour a day, which is a significant part of the baby's time awake.
I would not call it cr*p, any parent, or would be parent, would like to know how to keep their babies mentally stimulated.
Jaglover said:
How many hours a day does a child spend in a buggy? Is it every day?
Honestly, the crap some people dream up and call research!
I suppose it depends on the parent's habits.
It could very easily be an hour a day, which is a significant part of the baby's time awake.
I would not call it cr*p, any parent, or would be parent, would like to know how to keep their babies mentally stimulated.
But it is crap. It isn't research - look at all the suppositions built in - it's all "could" do this, "might" cause that - that isn't factual "research" - it's just opinion. Who are these "experts"?
Secondly - if a parent doesn't know how to keep their baby stimulated, why the feck are they breeding in the first place? All this article suggests is that you should talk to your baby - not exactly rocket science!
Tabloid journalism at its finest.
"Researchers from the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity seeking to raise literacy standards, surveyed 800 parents and health workers.
Their study showed that 89 per cent of their sample agreed that they would talk to their baby more if the child faced them in their buggy."
Well - no sh1t sherlock! So that's the basis of their findings them? Compete tosh.
"Researchers from the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity seeking to raise literacy standards, surveyed 800 parents and health workers.
Their study showed that 89 per cent of their sample agreed that they would talk to their baby more if the child faced them in their buggy."
Well - no sh1t sherlock! So that's the basis of their findings them? Compete tosh.
Plotloss said:
What complete and utter unadulterated shit.
You can still talk to your child and they can talk back whether they are facing forward or backward.
I take it this article was in some way sponsored by the Bugaloo Frog rear facing buggy?
Complete nonsense.
It is not the first study that I have seen that claims this.
I saw another one a couple of years back that said it is better for young babies to be in rear facing buggies because they are not capable of comprehending what is going on in the world and would be happier and better stimulated if they could watch a friendly face instead.
These baby 'facts' change every week.
I saw a few days ago dummies now are good because they can reduce cot death but were previously bad because they harmed their teeth.
Nursery was ment to make children violent, now means your children will be more successful in later life.
My boy likes to lookforward in the buggy at what's going on around him.Or he's asleep .
I saw a few days ago dummies now are good because they can reduce cot death but were previously bad because they harmed their teeth.
Nursery was ment to make children violent, now means your children will be more successful in later life.
My boy likes to lookforward in the buggy at what's going on around him.Or he's asleep .
I bet it's got a lot more to do with what the parents are like and what they talk about.
When I was in a pushchair, I woke up every morning to Radio 4 and my Dad complaining about Maggie Thatcher. I'm willing to bet that kids who wake up to Galaxy 102's Gabber Hardcore hour and Mum and Dad shouting 'f
k' and 'st' at each other don't learn to communicate so well.
When I was in a pushchair, I woke up every morning to Radio 4 and my Dad complaining about Maggie Thatcher. I'm willing to bet that kids who wake up to Galaxy 102's Gabber Hardcore hour and Mum and Dad shouting 'f
k' and 'st' at each other don't learn to communicate so well.nubbin said:Ah but Nubbin, the fast breeders are the one's who aren't even capable of saying "No!". They breed because, like rabbits, they can. This "news" (it's not, heard it before) might be helpful. But then again ...
How many hours a day does a child spend in a buggy? Is it every day?
Honestly, the crap some people dream up and call research!
I suppose it depends on the parent's habits.
It could very easily be an hour a day, which is a significant part of the baby's time awake.
I would not call it cr*p, any parent, or would be parent, would like to know how to keep their babies mentally stimulated.
But it is crap. It isn't research - look at all the suppositions built in - it's all "could" do this, "might" cause that - that isn't factual "research" - it's just opinion. Who are these "experts"?
Secondly - if a parent doesn't know how to keep their baby stimulated, why the feck are they breeding in the first place? All this article suggests is that you should talk to your baby - not exactly rocket science!
Twincam16 said:
I bet it's got a lot more to do with what the parents are like and what they talk about.
When I was in a pushchair, I woke up every morning to Radio 4 and my Dad complaining about Maggie Thatcher. I'm willing to bet that kids who wake up to Galaxy 102's Gabber Hardcore hour and Mum and Dad shouting 'f
Yeah but no but yeah but no.....
If you have the pushchair on your front bumper that might be a problem. Babys face would contort with the airflow and the wind noise might make communication difficult. I'm pretty sure it would be quite stimulating though 
You can talk to baby facing forward and stop to point @ stuff. As for it not being stimulating.....seeing the world go by is plenty stimulating - all those woof woofs and brum brums and the manic laughter when the loony pushing pops wheelies. It never hurt my nephews (apart from when they fell out ;-))
Maybe it's the parents that are too slack jawed yokel types to be stimulating.
Jaglover said:
All this article suggests is that you should talk to your baby - not exactly rocket science!
No it isn't, but that is hard to do if the baby is facing away from you.
You can talk to baby facing forward and stop to point @ stuff. As for it not being stimulating.....seeing the world go by is plenty stimulating - all those woof woofs and brum brums and the manic laughter when the loony pushing pops wheelies. It never hurt my nephews (apart from when they fell out ;-))
Maybe it's the parents that are too slack jawed yokel types to be stimulating.
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