Theodora Sweeney, B.S., M.A., did her undergraduate studies at St. John’s University in New York, where she received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, psychology and theology, and her graduate work at John Carroll University, where she earned an M.A. in education. Her interest and involvement in the field of child safety sprang from having four children of her own.

She petitioned the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for safety standards for public playground equipment and surfacing in the early 1970s. She subsequently helped to draft the Handbook for Public Playground Safety, first published in 1981, and has participated in updating each edition of these guidelines ever since. As a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials, she has also served on numerous committees which develop standards for children’s products. At present, her personal focus is low-slung tricycles (popularly known as “big wheels”) which, because of their involvement with numerous fatal and near-fatal injuries, she calls “accidents waiting to happen.”