This month, kids who live near Chicago can get a taste of Disney when the company opens its first indoor theme park outside Orlando. The five-story facility is a small world–90,000 square feet in the city’s downtown. (By contrast, Disney in Florida sprawls across 30,000 acres.) But it successfully crams in eight “rides,” 150 arcade and redemption games, a create-your-own-toy area, two food cafes and a company store. Thanks to the magic of computers and the wizardry of the company’s “imagineers,” DisneyQuest visitors put on 3-D glasses or sit in simulators and then feel like they’re hurtling through space, navigating a jungle river or flying on Aladdin’s magic carpet–though they’re going nowhere. The biggest draw should be CyberSpace Mountain, which lets visitors design and then take their own “virtual” roller-coaster ride–with real 360-degree spins. “It’s the next generation of Disney entertainment,” says Art Levitt, president of Disney Regional Entertainment. Parents should bring their wallets (about two hours of play costs $16 per person or about $4.50 per “ride”). They might want earplugs, too, to drown out the music, sound effects and arcade games–and the screams of up to 1,500 visitors at any given time. Next summer Disney plans to open an indoor theme park in Philadelphia (another cold, tourist-filled city). And it may launch as many as 30 more around the country. But this summer, only kids in Chicago will get to test the limits of their parents’ wallets.
SCHOOLSHard Work Pays Off
Valedictorians, beware: high grades and test scores do not guarantee college success, according to a new Department of Education study. Rigorous high-school courses are the most accurate predictor of whether a student will earn a degree. “The best thing to do before college is to take demanding classes,” says Clifford Adelman, author of the study.
SAFETYCar-Seat Update
The national transportation Safety Board estimates that 80 percent of child safety seats are incorrectly installed. This month DaimlerChrysler announced that it will open the first of 1,000 “fitting stations,” where it will inspect seat installations for free. Denver and San Francisco dealers will be among the first.
title: “Family Notes” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Daniel Kleber”
title: “Family Notes” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-11” author: “Kathy Hamilton”
title: “Family Notes” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-09” author: “Mary Talty”
Moms and Daughtersisn’t
TV
A Kwanzaa Message
BOOKS
What They’re Reading
GIFTS
Thanking the Teacher
title: “Family Notes” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-01” author: “Shawn Mason”
School is getting harder, according to Reality Check 2001, an annual national survey conducted by Public Agenda and Education Week. The number of teachers who say their schools passed students based on age rather than mastery of required skills has dropped from 41 percent to 31 percent in the last four years. In addition, 53 percent of teachers say that students take summer school seriously, up 10 percentage points since 1998. Despite the controversy over standardized testing, most parents and teachers support its use to motivate students and identify those who are struggling. Some 81 percent of parents and 62 percent of teachers agree that testing is a good way to identify those who need special help. But 90 percent of teachers and 75 percent of parents say it’s wrong to use the results of just one test to decide a student’s future.
HOME: Better Get Out The Vacuum
In a 25-year study, University of Michigan researchers found that kids who grew up in homes where common areas were rated “clean” or “very clean” stayed in school longer and then earned more money than those raised in dirty ones. But one of the researchers, Rachel Dunifon, says there’s no need to be obsessive. “It’s not cleanliness per se, but keeping things in order that we think impacts children,” says Dunifon. “Our observers didn’t show up with mops and buckets, nor did they slide their fingers on tabletops to check for dust.”
HEALTH: For Your Information
If only children came with a manual. But as they don’t, the pediatricians at Children’s Hospital in Boston have put together a 796-page reference book that’s the next best thing. “The Children’s Hospital Guide to Your Child’s Health and Development” (Perseus Publishing. $40) is organized so it’s easy to find information on whatever you’re worried about. There are chapters on pregnancy, giving birth and development at each stage, starting with newborns. We especially liked the chapter on preschoolers, which includes a checklist that can help parents spot potential learning problems so their children can get help early. An A-to-Z guide to common childhood illnesses gives up-to-date information on a range of ailments from Abdominal Pain to Worms. The volume is illustrated with exceptionally clear line drawings.
TELEVISION: Bob’s the Man for Toddler Truckers
If your preschooler is crazy about construction trucks, check out “Bob the Builder,” Nickelodeon’s new stop-frame animated series. Nick says the British import is already the top-rated preschool program in Britain, Germany, Australia and Japan. Bob’s team includes Dizzy (a cement mixer), Roley (a steamroller), Muck (a dump truck) and Scoop (a scooper). The high quality of the entertainment disguises the half-hour show’s educational agenda: socialization skills, counting and identifying sounds.
