In Brief

By Alain L. Sanders

CAMPING WITH KIDS It's not too early to plan your family's summer vacation, especially if you'd like to be among the 291 million people who will visit America's national parks this year. February's Sesame Street Parents magazine has done some of the homework for you--studying safety, quality and variety of attractions--and has come up with six top family-friendly parks: Acadia, Cape Hatteras, Crater Lake, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain and Yosemite. Log on to www.sesame.org/parents/ and search the site for more vacation tips.

PARENTAL TECH SUPPORT Don't just buy your kids a computer and expect them to become science and technology wizards all by themselves. Youngsters want some reliable mom-and-dad support to bolster their science education. The latest Lemelson-M.I.T. Invention Index survey reveals that more than half of teens, 55%, believe parental encouragement to do well in science is an excellent idea. Some 39% want parents to provide access to books and materials. And 36% want parents to help with homework or school projects. The parental law of inertia is, apparently, no excuse.

BIG FAMILIES SHOW THEIR AGE The early environment of kids and its effects on their development have been linked to many adult ailments like heart disease and diabetes--and now perhaps to Alzheimer's disease. A study in the journal Neurology has found that seniors born into families with five or more siblings had a 39% greater risk of developing Alzheimer's than those born into smaller families. Because bigger families often had lower income and education than smaller ones, the researchers believe that for some kids these disadvantages may have impaired brain development in a way that made their brains more susceptible to complications from aging.

--By Alain L. Sanders