CLINTONS URGE SONGS, STORYTELLING TO NURTURE INFANTS.

Byline: Associated Press 

In a day of ``talking about baby talk'' and how brains grow, President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton offered parents simple child-rearing advice: Songs and storytelling fire up infants' brainpower.

The president, surrounded Thursday by researchers and child care experts in the East Room of the White House, contended that this decade's discoveries on nurturing babies' intellectual and emotional growth rival man's forays into space.

``This may be the most exciting and important exploration of all,'' he said. ``This must always be part of the public's business, because we all have a common interest in our children's future.''

Hillary Clinton marveled at recent studies showing that infants, at 6 months old, are well on their way to learning language. She recalled reading to her baby daughter: ``We had no idea . . . that what we were doing was literally turning on the power in her brain, firing up connections that would enable her to speak and read.''

For the Clintons, two working parents, the research's emphasis on early nurturing by parents also raised a thorny question: Does science prove mothers are better off staying at home?

Hillary Clinton faced the question head on with help from Dr. Deborah Phillips, a child care expert with the National Research Council.

``Some people argue that what the research really tells us is that women with very young children should not work outside the home, period,'' the first lady said.

Phillips reassured her there was no evidence that placing young children in good-quality child care impinges on the parent-child bond or stops babies from thriving.