This was no framed photo on a desk. The image of Gates was flickering on the screen of her office computer in downtown Washington - and he was taking his swing ride at that very moment at a Fairfax City day-care center 15 miles away.

A few minutes later, Gates popped up on his mother's computer again, stacking blocks in the playroom. And soon after that, she watched him eating some melon.

About 75 child-care facilities across the country are using the "kiddie cams," which are being marketed as a way to alleviate working parents' concerns about the care and safety of their children. Cameras are placed in the rooms where youngsters play or sleep, and parents pay an extra fee to access the images over the Internet. The operators of Gates's day-care, Little Oxford House Early Learning Center, decided to purchase the system "to give parents peace of mind" about their children's activities, said Fatima Adnan, the facility's administrator. The center charges parents $20 a month for the special software, which is similar to what other parents across the country are paying for the service.

The cost is worth it, although the urge to see little Johnny's face does wane over time, according to several parents who have been using the system for several weeks.

"I don't need to check in all the time now because I know the opportunity is there," said Mary Ann Hendry, 31, whose 7-month-old boy attends Healthy Environment, a Wilmington, Del., day-care center that installed the cameras in February.

The cameras tend to make parents feel better about their child's center on many levels, day-care providers say.

"I feel like parents are more open to talk to us about things," said Gwen Lacy, director of Healthy Environment. "They actually can see things that are going on, so it gives them something to talk about. They can say, 'Oh, I saw that game you were playing.'"

Young said she rarely gets to make unannounced visits to Little Oxford House because it is so far from her office. And after Gates's debut on-screen, Young said, she is hooked. She logged on 10 times yesterday to check on him.

Young plans to keep her son's image on the screen during conference calls. And when she travels out of town on business three or four times a month with her laptop, Gates will be with her. "That's when your guilt really kicks in," she said.

Russell File, 43, whose 2-year-old son, Nicholas, attends Little Oxford House, said he logged on about 20 times yesterday. "In my mind, this is what technology really ought to be about," said File, a technical consultant. "It's tough enough when you're leaving a kid at a day-care center. It's nice to be able to kind of candidly look in to see what's going on."