One of the hardest things for me to do as a parent is to deliberately allow my kids to fail. It’s so hard that sometimes I need to walk out of the room so I don’t end up intervening and bailing them out. Of course, I would never, ever allow my kids to fail if it puts them in any sort of danger. That’s just a no-brainer. But making mistakes is a part of life and, if viewed from the perspective…
I use my husband and kids as guinea pigs. That’s what I was doing one evening during dinner when I handed everyone a post-it note. I was practicing a lesson I was planning on teaching the next day to a group of fifth graders. “Write down five numbers from 1 to 47 on your post-it. You can use your favorite numbers or simply choose random ones. It doesn’t matter. If you match any of the five I write down, I’ll…
Here’s the thing about kids working outside of mom and dad. They get a different exposure to the world. And I’m all for having kids be exposed to all kinds of experiences. Especially if it’s going to help them as adults. Nathan and Ryan began “working” at eleven years old. They had a once-a-week after school paper route. It was the perfect first job. They were responsible for getting their papers wrapped and delivered by 6:30 pm. If they needed…
I recently read the book, The Overspent American, and it had an effect on me that, frankly, caught me by surprise. I get the whole media push for Americans to buy, buy, buy and I’ve been quite smug with myself knowing that I usually do not succumb to their multi-billion dollar advertisements. Until now. It’s lipstick. And, specifically, the lipstick tube. The book made it very clear that, although unbelievable differences in retail prices, women’s makeup is pretty much the same…
Keeping gas in the tank is painful for a teen when it’s their money that’s being sucked dry. But it’s also a very important life lesson. Teens need to learn how to manage money before we send them out into the world. So Nathan was thrilled when he came home yesterday with yet another opportunity to drive one of Ryan’s friends to school every day. Besides Ryan, this is his fourth passenger. Paying passenger. I told Nathan I would pay him the…