Dr. Benjamin Spock, the 86-year-old patriarch of child-care advice, says parents should relax so their kids can.

"Children respond to the tensions in parents, not the tensions in society," the white-bearded physician and child psychiatrist said last week. "We've got to take the pressure off kids."Spock was in Chicago to open a Field Museum of Natural History exhibition on families.

He told parents they should teach their children the spirit of cooperation.

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Parents also should work toward eliminating grades in school and try to turn politicians' attention to issues like funding for day care, schools and health care, said Spock.

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