Kornhaber, a psychiatrist and Life Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association, will contribute to the grandparenting site that is part of KKN's first Web-based project, called KidsEdge.com, a network of Web sites that provides individualized learning for children plus feedback and recommendations to parents, grandparents and teachers.

Today, there are more than 60 million grandparents in the United States, who spend $30 billion a year on their grandchildren. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts the number of grandparents will grow to 100 million in the next several years, in addition to the growing ranks of great-grandparents. Internet usage also is seeing a rise in this group.

According to Jupiter Communications, online use by older Americans is expected to grow from 14 million to 27.3 million by 2003. With very few online offerings focused on the intergenerational relationships of grandparents, parents and grandchildren, KidsEdge.com's grandparenting site, appropriately named GrandparentsEdge.com, will deliver meaningful content, activities and products to this important population.

According to Kornhaber, today's pressures on modern grandparents and the American family in general are pronounced and changing. Through GrandparentsEdge.com, KKN and Kornhaber plan to help raise grandparents' awareness about the important and indispensable roles they play in the intellectual and emotional aspects of their grandchildren's development, while providing practical advice and solutions for strengthening intergenerational family bonds.

"We believe grandparents are an underserved audience on the Internet and an underutilized resource for positive change in today's families. Our intergenerational approach enables KidsEdge.com to become a powerful tool for the whole family," said Sarina Simon, president and CEO of Knowledge Kids Network.

"The advice and content provided by Dr. Kornhaber and his team will demonstrate how grandparents can become more involved and be more effective in the lives of their grandchildren as well as their own children."

"People too often underestimate the impact a grandparent is capable of playing in a child's life," said Kornhaber. "KidsEdge.com's grandparenting connection is an invaluable tool that can provide a meaningful solution to facilitate and cement emotional attachments between grandparents and grandchildren, who are often geographically unable to have regular interaction."

Kornhaber, who also is a grandfather, has studied the dynamics of the grandparent-grandchild relationship for more than 30 years, and continues to direct the longest, ongoing grandparenting research project, the Grandparenting Study. In 1975, he started The Foundation for Grandparenting, with the mission to explore intergenerational relationships and the emotional, social, spiritual and psychological benefits of the bond between grandparents and their grandchildren. He also has authored four internationally acclaimed books and more than 100 articles on the topic.

Kornhaber is a recognized family advocate, especially for grandparent and grandchild-related issues. He is a frequently quoted expert in the national and international media on issues related to grandparenting, and regularly appears in the media as a family and grandparenting expert on news programs including NBC's "The Today Show," ABC's "20/20," CBS' nightly news; talk shows including Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jesse Raphael, Phil Donahue and Maury Povich; and radio programs as well as major newspapers, magazines and other publications.

Kornhaber and The Foundation for Grandparenting join KKN's growing list of industry-leading, strategic partners including the Knowledge Universe family's Knowledge Beginnings' preschools (www.knowledgebeginnings.com), LeapFrog (www.leapfrogtoys.com) and Teacher Universe (www.teacheruniverse.com).

Other partners include Cricket Magazines (www.cricketmag.com), The National Parenting Center (www.tnpc.com), Schwab Foundation for Learning (www.schwablearning.org), and several prominent experts from the education and child development fields.

The Foundation for Grandparenting is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation. Since 1980, the Foundation has been dedicated to raising grandparent consciousness and grandparent identity. Through education, research, programs, communication and networking, the Foundation promotes the benefits of grandparenting and the involvement of grandparents as agents of positive change for families and society.

Knowledge Kids Network is based in Los Angeles and is staffed by a senior management team including educational professionals plus Internet and children's media veterans. The company is dedicated to providing media-based educational products and services to families and kids.

Knowledge Kids Network's first product is KidsEdge.com, a new Internet destination for families with children ages 3-12 that provides a Web-based, individualized learning experience for children, with ongoing feedback and guidance for parents.

In addition to enriching activities for children, the site will offer a network of interrelated sites to serve caregivers (ParentsEdge.com, GrandparentsEdge.com and TeachersEdge.com) with expert advice, resources and communications tools, and a proprietary individual child progress-reporting feature called "My Family at a Glance." KidsEdge.com's content and curriculum are based on the guidance of leading authorities in education and education technology as well as key state standards from around the nation.

KidsEdge.com also will include a fee-based learning area with rigorous adaptive learning programs, such as a phonics-based reading product. KidsEdge.com is scheduled to launch nationally in summer 2000.

This news release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the introduction of new products and services. Any such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results encompassed within the forward-looking statements.