Category Archives: Family matters

In which we discuss matters of the family.

Prayer

Save Lori's house

Three years ago, Lori Hall Steele and her son watched “Bambi.” The ensuing conversations prompted the freelance writer to pen an essay, which was published in June in the Washington Post. In it, her little boy asks, “Will you look after me when I’m a grown-up?”

On the morning after his fourth birthday, Jack waits for an answer. There’s so much that can happen in this beautiful, crazy, too-mortal planet, and I know truth and its consequences are too much for a child. For my child. For this moment. He will learn the whole truth in time; he will learn that life is as capricious as it is constant. For now I want him to return safely to Neverland.

I tell him I’ll always be here for him, one way or another. Always always always. Just like my mother is here for me. Just like I was there when he was 3. It is an impossible promise, a gamble with his trust. I secretly pray I don’t let him down, not on this.

Lori had this talk with Jack and wrote this essay before she was diagnosed with ALS. Jack is 7 now, and his mom’s in the hospital. She’s on a ventilator and unable to work. She’s a single mom, and the bank is about to foreclose on their house.

Please go to Save Lori’s House to learn more and, if you’re able, to help save Lori and Jack’s home.

Family matters

If Sixlets were currency, I'd be in business

The Parent Bloggers Network and Capital One want to know: When is the best time to teach your kids about money? And just how do you do it?

My short answer? I haven’t a clue.

The long answer is that I don’t remember my parents talking to me about money or financial management when I was a kid. We all got an allowance at my dad’s house in the summer. My stepsister and I were in charge of the dishes every night, and we were paid $5 a week for it. On payday, we gleefully rode our bikes to a nearby convenience store and blew it all on candy. I always bought Sixlets. Which might not have been a sound investment, but they were mighty tasty.

I know that I want Poppy and Pete to be wise about their finances when they’re adults, but I’m not sure of a strategy for that. I think maybe we’ll enforce some sort of percentage rule, once they’re old enough for an allowance. Something like, 25% to savings, 25% to charity and 50% to Mommy’s Sixlets fund whatever they’d like.

Speaking of when they’re old enough for an allowance, when is that?

I’ve done a pretty poor job of answering PBN and Capital One’s question. Capital One has a new Web site called Moneywi$e eLearning, though, that might do a better job.

(Disclaimer: I tell you this because I want to win an iPhone.)