In Brief: Jul. 17, 2000

FADING MEMORIES The digital age has made it easy to capture and share family moments. But just like traditional photographs, printed digital images can fade--sometimes within months. By the time a child graduates from high school, the baby pictures could be gone. To save those memories, download digital photos onto a CD-ROM, and be sure to update your archives every few years as technology changes.

COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES Parents who spend a lot of time encouraging their children while they are playing could be unwittingly doing more harm than good. Researchers at Baldwin-Wallace College expected to find that parents who interacted the most with their kids had the most creative offspring, but the opposite was true. If parents are very involved, the child often feels he is being valued and judged, and that stifles his creativity and originality. So let children create on their own, and save the enthusiasm for the results.

LIKE MOTHER A study at Stanford University found that daughters--but not sons--of mothers with a history of eating disorders developed feeding problems within the first two weeks of life. According to researchers, moms may be interacting with their newborns in ways that communicate their attitude toward food, such as delaying feeding to prevent girls from eating too much and getting fat. Experts urge that women who have had eating problems seek counseling before getting pregnant.

--By Lisa McLaughlin