In Brief

TOO EARLY, TOO YOUNG Studies compiled by the Ladies' Home Journal indicate that children have sex more often than parents had thought. The current issue reports that by age 13, 1 in 12 kids is no longer a virgin and that by 15 a third of girls and 45% of boys have had sex. The article notes that many kids who haven't had intercourse have had sexual experiences. Half of all teenagers have engaged in oral sex, an activity many consider less serious than intercourse. Some experts suggest the Lewinsky scandal may have fueled this trend.

BREVITY IS THE SOUL OF WIT Talking to your infant is good, but uttering individual words might be better. According to a study by a professor at Washington University, children younger than 15 months learn words like kitty, red or come more quickly when their parents say them frequently and by themselves. Such isolated words form the foundation for early vocabulary learning. The study challenges recent theories that infants learn language by hearing sentences and segmenting them into individual words.

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU Not only has breast-feeding been shown to be good for children, but also, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, infants who have been on the breast even have better eyesight than those who have not. Researchers found too that the fatty acid in breast milk that contributes to this is present in such oily fish as sardines. And pregnant women who ate oily fish gave birth to kids with better eyesight than those who didn't.