Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

While hundreds of thousands of children face death every day from preventable diseases and starvation, we are now being asked to worry which direction our infant strollers are facing. When did staring at the glazed eyes of their parents every minute take precedence over interacting and learning about the world?

Both my older children uttered their first words while strolling in the park and watching total strangers pass by with objects that caught their attention—a red hat and a tail-wagging dog. And while I may have pushed them in forward-facing strollers, they somehow managed to learn a word that will serve them well in our current child-rearing climate: ridiculous.

Laura Morowitz
Staten Island, March 2, 2009

Note from KBJ: Thank God I was born in 1957 and not today. Parents had common sense back then.