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Strollerderby
This little piggy bank ticked a lot of parents off.
We all know certain topics, when raised in front of a multi-generational audience, are likely to raise eyebrows or elicit glares. There are the obvious ones (sex, drugs). There are the audience-specific ones (i.e. inviting a kid whose parent is anti-sugar out for ice cream). And then there are the stealth ones—the ones you don’t know about until you get the dirty looks.
When dad and writer Michael Weiss went out on the road to do research for an article, he was expecting an easy dialogue with parents in the playground. Instead, he got the cold shoulder, the evil eye, and a whole lot of other signs that the conversation he was raising was seriously unwelcome.
So what was the controversial topic he was trying to bring up with these parents? I’ll give you a hint: it’s one of the two most common sources of marital strife. (And I already ruled out sex.)
I hate money. I don’t hate having it on the rare occasion when I do, and it’s the one thing I would probably hate less if I had more of it. But I hate thinking about it, stressing about it, wondering about the best way to manage it, etc.
But financial experts say this attitude is pretty harmful to my kids — that teaching them about money, and how to deal with it, is one of the best things we can do for them to start them on the right path in life. And given that my five-year-old just asked for an allowance, I found this week’s Wall Street Journal article on “15 Money Rules Kids Should Learn” enormously timely.
One of the most interesting ones, which writer Jeff D. Opdyke talks about in his post for The Juggle, Continue reading »
Hold on to your apron strings, because this story will surprise you. A 60-year-old Italian man was recently ordered by a judge to resume monthly allowance payments to his daughter.
His daughter is 32 years old.
The other day I asked when you thought kids should start getting an allowance, and pointed out that I don’t remember when mine began. I also don’t remember how much I got. (I also don’t remember what I had for lunch. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh yeah.) If I recall correctly, it started with something as small as 25 cents. As I got older, the amount grew. Continue reading »
This is a question that I have yet to have to deal with, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. So I ask you, the reader, to weigh in. (Jeanne put this idea in my head with her post about lump sum allowances.)
I can’t recall when I started receiving a weekly allowance. I think it was around age 10, but it may have been earlier. Continue reading »
Remember counting out your pennies the day before allowance day to see if you had enough left over to buy, well, anything? Not anymore – there’s a growing number of parents who are doling out the allowance in one lump sum.
Imagine, no more weekly pestering by the kids for cash. Continue reading »
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