Sheesh, can't believe I missed putting this one into the Friday Freakout. Researchers at the University of Dundee have published a report titled What's Life in a Baby Buggy Like? which is based on two studies. The key finding: all of the wars of the last 100 years have been caused by the "emotional impoverishment" that has afflicted generations of children since the introduction of forward-facing strollers in at the 1893 Columbia Exposition.
[Now that you mention it, isn't a convenient coincidence that the inventor of the umbrella stroller, Owen Maclaren, was an RAF pilot in WWII?]
On the bright side, the scientists predict that the current generation of Bugaboo children, who have grown up facing their parents and talking with them more, will be so verbal and developmentally advanced, that they'll usher in an era of global peace and prosperity.
Assuming, of course, that they get into Harvard like they're supposed to. And that you score them the right sweet, networky internships. No pressure.
Download the full report, What's Life in a Baby Buggy Like? from the National Literacy Trust [literacytrust.org]
Looking back is way forward for a buggy [timesonline.co.uk via dt readers scott, molly and jj]
Uh, it very well may be, but no she did not: "Gwyneth Paltrow famously made the Bugaboo pram popular, and that seems like a wise choice." [timesonline]
My wife sent me that "study" Friday, which led to the next half hour of me getting unreasonably angry at how godawful the "science" is, and deciding that the only appropriate reply was a sternly-worded weblog post.
http://q.queso.com/archives/002348
Enjoy...