Your Family

FLAT HEADS Placing infants on their backs to sleep has dramatically reduced cases of sudden infant death syndrome, but is causing a side effect: heads that are flat in the back. The condition can lead to misalignment of the ears and jaw. Fortunately, the softness of an infant's skull, which causes the problem, also makes it easy to fix. Babies should get plenty of tummy time when they are awake.

KINDER, GENTLER P.E. Competition may inspire some grade-school athletes, but for less agile kids the pressure can make gym class torturous and turn them off sports for life. So more schools are adopting physical-education curriculums that emphasize cooperation, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. For instance, the human-target sport of dodge ball has been replaced with games like bombardment, in which the goal is to move a large ball along by throwing smaller balls at it.

IN FRONT OF THE KIDS Parents often feel they should hide marital disagreements from their offspring. But according to academics at Cardiff University in Wales, that could be harmful. A three-year study of 500 Welsh families found that moms and dads arguing in secret, instead of openly, caused kids more stress. These children picked up on tensions anyway and failed to learn from their parents how to solve problems through arguing.