Changing horses in mid-stream

[dreamshark]

I must admit that while reading an older baby-development book I started to have some sympathy for the modern concept of alternating "he" and "she" in such books. I was reading bits aloud to the new parents and found that swapping "she" for "he" made it seem a lot more relevant to the new parents of a baby girl.

But here's how to carry things too far.

"When your baby is rear-facing, adjust the straps so they're threaded through the slots at or below his shoulder level, says Jennifer Stockburger, vehicle and child-safety program manager at Consumer Reports' Auto Test Center, in East Haddam, Connecticut. Otherwise, she could be injured or ejected in a crash."

What, the baby boy is okay but JENNIFER might be injured? Huh? Really, people, I think it's okay to stick with a single pronoun for at least the duration of a thought. If you can't stomach that, go back to the Victorian English convention and just say "it."

Comments

[quadong.livejournal.com]

they

[mle292.livejournal.com]

"Baby" as a name is also acceptable in these sorts of things.

Place Baby in a rear facing car seat, lest Baby be ejected head first from a crash."

Alternately, I very much like "it," but I think that might not be as well received.