European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 1, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A form of mis education by Glenn Collins new York limes hey Are buying baby exercise gyms hawked by a growing crowd of merchandisers. They Are drilling their infants in math and Reading skills using flashcards books and videotapes. They Are enrolling their 3 year Olds in Tennis lessons and entering 4-year Olds in Beauly contests and athletic competitions. Now Hoy Are even trying to educate their children in Tho womb with Phon like learning devices. They ate the parents who want their children to be  As a distinct parental species they have gained increasing attention in recent years even As their overzealous Ness has boor condemned by Many child development experts but no one in the child development establishment has marshalled the evidence against the super baby ethic in a comprehensive authoritative Way until now. In a new Book. These parents Are engaging in a form of mis education said or. David Elkind a 57-year-old child psychologist who has become America s most indefatigable advocate for children s right to be child in although for the most part parents who want Supor Babics Are Well intentioned he said i am alarmed by what i  not Only is what they a doing unnecessary to continued it May also be harming a generation of children " this is the alarm sounded in Elkind s new Book Misc Deucalion preschoolers at risk Knopf $16 95. Paperback $7.95. A professor of child study and senior resident scholar at tults University in Medford mass Elkind is the president of the 55,000-member National association for the education o Young children Iho largest group for Early childhood professionals no statistics have documented the number of Supe Babics but if you look at the number of products out there the marketers clearly eel there is a huge and growing audience Lor their wares Elkind said. Although the Supe baby phenomenon was first noted in upper Middle class families several years ago now less advantaged families seem to be adopting the altitudes of affluent  Elkind believes. Mis education is unusually outspoken for a Book by a social science researcher. I m sticking my neck out and going Public in a Way that Many others in the Field Are unwilling to do Elkind said though there certainly Are a lot of professionals who feel just As i  in his two previous books Lor popular audiences Elkind expressed concern about older children. All grown up and no place logo was a 1984 study of american teen agers in a society that expected them to grow up too last. The hurried child was a 1981 study of the increasing numbers of american Nuu 14 Matt in Etaf ? Stdio arc Appolo Over zealous Well intentioned parents May be harming a generation of children by drilling the very Young in math and Reading skills. Youngsters pressed to think feel and behave like older children and adults the author said. But the super baby phenomenon goes beyond the hurrying he has previously written about. It s starting so much earlier Elkind said. They Are even Selling educational programs for children in the womb. Parents Are trying to educate infants earlier to make them brighter so they can compete  there have always been Pushy parents Elkind said but now it s much More widespread in both numbers of children and activities As Well. It s not just stage mothers pushing a few kids now it s a generation of parents pushing very Small children into foreign languages music instruction exercise classes swimming and formal instruction that is completely inappropriate to  the Short term consequences of such efforts Are signs of stress Elkind said citing stomachaches and headaches eating and sleeping problems and changes in children s Ordinary patterns of  preschoolers soil esteem can also be diminished since the tendency of children is to blame themselves when they can t do an impossible task set by an adult he added. There can be other effects. I be seen 3-year-Olds in Tennis classes Elkind said and Given their juvenile Bone Structure that s downright  parents can play an important positive role in their children s learning Elkind believes. It s healthy to want a child to Excel and do Well he said. But you do that by providing a stimulating environment rather than pushing a Small child to master specific  studies of developmental psychologists have Long shown that preschoolers learn spontaneously usually through play he said. Play is very important to learning he added and formal learning if introduced too Early can inhibit  in formal learning the whole idea of earlier is better is just wrong he said. Decades of research on intellectual readiness for mastering Reading arithmetic and other skills he said shows that children at an older age can master skills better with greater  Elkind believes that there is no Good reason to enrol a preschool child in any kind of formal lessons because they have no lasting benefits he said. And i Don t believe in putting children in contests until they re 7 or 8 or even 9 until they have a Strong sense of their  Many parents feel that a difficult aspect of the super baby trend is peer pressure they Tell me i believe in your philosophy but every other kid in the neighbourhood is going into a High pressure  Elkind Hopes that his Book will give support to parents who want to resist this trend he said. So that when a neighbor says Why in t your 9-month-old in a swimming class parents can say it s a wholly unnecessary and potentially dangerous idea " by Lisa h. Towle new York times n the Battle for the allegiance of America s Lasle buds snack food makers have been caught in the crossfire Between the consumer s desire to something old read comforting yet new me army fast different tasting and preferably nutritious. Snack foods Are life style  said Mona Doyle president of the consumer network a consumer research company. They Are healthful if you want them to be or they can satisfy cravings. Because of this the line Between a snack food and a real meal food has grown fuzzier. Snack foods fit our fragment life  there seem to be As Many Comfort making snack foods As people who need comforting and everyone has a slightly different definition of a snack. Words tha keep appearing when Industry watchers talk about the Market Are fun foods Finger foods portable foods and last foods. Snack food Magazine lists 18 categories of snack foods within the Industry they generated $24.8 billion in manufacturer sales in 1986, a 6.5 percent increase Over 1985. This year sales Are projected to Rise 10.1 percent. The lop Revenue producers were Candy 29.� percent of Gross Sale cookies and crackers 22.8 percent and potato chips 12 percent. The future looks Bright for those Candy cookie Anc Chip makers. Americans Are snacking at an Ever increasing rate due to our population makeup said Robert Hilleque publishing director of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich inc s snack group publications including snack food Magazine. About 60 percent Are 40 year old or younger and they Are snack food eaters who Don t have the time or interest to sit Down and eat three squares a  As Hilleque suggests the line is blurring Between main meals and snacks. People Are eating portable foods while on the run and then rewarding themselves Tor All their hard work by indulging in an expensive or highly caloric taste treat. Success has spurred certain snack food Market segments notably the crackers and chips makers to introduce record numbers of new products or variations of old ones. Nonetheless two of last year s big winners were old favourites Popcorn with a sales increase of 26 percent followed by dried fruits with a 21.5 percent Rise that Are perceived As healthful. A big loser was Granola snacks which took a 19 percent dive in sales. Granola bars Are pretty close to being dead Hilleque said. The manufacturers mistake he added was to change a product that Consumers saw As healthful. By adding chocolate and marshmallow to the bars the makers made them  among newer products meat snacks Are a Sleeper category coming into its own said Hilleque who believes extruded snacks like cheese puffs Ani cheese curls will become a bigger  it in t always that easy to Tell what Consumers wan though. People often Tell you what they think they should be eating not what they Are or want to be eating said Anthony Adams director of marketing research and planning for the Campbell soup co. People buy food that tastes Good and makes them fool  a great Many new product introductions which have hit record highs Lor some companies Are really just simple twists on familiar themes. One favorite variation is to change the size of a popular product. F example Nabisco maker of the oreo which it Calls the world s most popular cookie recently introduce oreo big stuff a jumbo sized three Inch version of the chocolate Sandwich cookie that was first brought to Market in 1911. More commonly the variation revolves around the theme that less is More. Faith Popcorn chairman of brain Reserve a new York consulting irm contends that she has been telling her Fortune 500 clients for a decade now that Small would be  Small gives you a sense of control she said an does t make you feel so  corporations Are banking on the fact that smaller products will mean bigger profits. Nabisco brands int of East Hanover n.j., with sales of More than $9 billio in 1986, undertook the largest product initiative in its history in july by introducing 18 cookie and Cracker products backed by More than $100 million in advertising coupons and Trade promotion. The entries include Ritz bits tiny versions of what the company says is the no.1 Selling Cracker in the country and quakers shaped like miniature ducks. The company will not disclose figures but says the Friday Jai