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Parents ought to read the instinctively wise and warm article "Why Johnny Can't Sleep" [HEALTH, April 14]. Years ago child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim told me that the isolation and separateness in American society were not necessarily healthy. Children who sleep in bed with family members learn important behaviors about getting along with others socially. This idea was greatly reinforced for me while I was director of the Southeast Asian refugee program for children, ages 1 to 6, at the Indochinese Center in Portland, Oregon. Seeing firsthand how much better socially adjusted and emotionally mature these war-torn, Third World children arriving from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were than American children of the same age shocked me. I began a study of Southeast Asian child-rearing practices at the center. What struck me was the constant physical contact that began at birth and included family members sleeping together. These kids were not praised a lot, but they were never left alone. When it came time to begin school, these children, who were socially and emotionally better adjusted, could direct all their energy into learning, and eventually surpassed their American peers. JANET LANE Muralto, Switzerland
The responsibility of parenthood encompasses 24 hours and holds much decision making. Is it fair to lay all the blame on the doctors' side in connection with where children should sleep and at what age? To follow the norm and so-called expert advice blindly is a convenient way to cover up a lack of personal development. Ideally, parents should have educated themselves from a variety of sources, and then open their heart and listen to their intuition. In the end, every individual is responsible for his or her own decisions. Caring for children is the most significant responsibility a human being can have. RENATE SCHAERZ-HEERLEIN Klosters, Switzerland
LIFE ON THE ICY MOON
The possibility of extraterrestrial life on the moons Europa and Triton, discussed in "Life in a Deep Freeze" [SPACE, April 21], seems very likely. Believe me, the prospect of finding it anywhere besides The X-Files is extremely thrilling. But don't you think the $200 million per ship could be put to better use--for example, in Third World countries? FATIMA ANSARI Lahore, Pakistan
Since Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, biologists have been trying to discover the "origin of life" through some sort of natural process occurring on Planet Earth. TIME's latest article on the possibility of life originating on some of the moons in our solar system is another extension of this false hope of finding life by means of a chance process. Your story says "all the moons lacked was the heat needed to get biological chemistry going." Life is much more complex than this. The statement made by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that "we have organic chemicals mixed into a bath of water. That's a recipe for life" is absurd. The idea that a chemical cocktail stimulated by heat will produce biological life is an insult to science and those who work in the various fields of biology. I suggest that intelligent and fully ordered life such as we have on Earth is not the result of mere chance, but the product of an intelligent Creator. PHILIP BENNETT Belfast, Northern Ireland
ELLEN COMES OUT