Focus on the Candidates – Ted Cruz

This blog is part of the series that focuses on the candidates who are running for President of the United States in 2016. This blog focuses on Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to an American mother and a Cuban father. Ted Cruz has since renounced his Canadian citizenship. He was Solicitor General for the state of Texas from 2003-2008. Ted Cruz was first elected as a Texas Senator in 2012. You might recall him reading “Green Eggs and Ham” on CSPAN during the government shutdown of 2013. Health Care According to his Senate website, Ted … Continue reading

Kids of Same-Sex Parents Benefit From Supreme Court Ruling

On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States revealed their decision on the same-sex marriage case that had reached their court. The case was called Obergefell v Hodges. In short, the Justices of the Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality is the law of the land. Kids of same-sex parents benefit from this decision in so many important ways. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license marriage between two people of the same sex. They also ruled the the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to recognize a same sex … Continue reading

When Kids Stop Believing in Santa

How can you tell if your child has stopped believing in Santa? Sometimes, it becomes obvious. Your kid suddenly declares that Santa isn’t real (and appears to be comfortable with that knowledge). Most of the time though, kids come to parents with questions about Santa. Your child is not sure what to believe, and is trying to figure things out based on whatever evidence he or she can find. What’s a parent to do? One way to handle it is to ask your child a question. “What do you think?” This gives your kid the opportunity to direct the conversation … Continue reading

Kids Today Aren’t Assigned Chores

Do you require your children to do chores? I don’t mean the occasional request to help with a little bit of cleaning. Instead, I mean regularly assigned tasks that you expect your child to complete on a daily or weekly basis. It appears that the majority of parents today are not assigning chores to their children. A survey conducted by Whirlpool found that 82% of Americans did chores when they were children. That same survey found that only 28% of parents today are assigning their children chores. What changed between today and when the current generation of parents were kids? … Continue reading

Ways to Help Your Child Understand Business

Do your children understand the value of a dollar? Many kids do not. There are things that parents can do to help their children, and teenagers, to get a basic grasp of money. They can also learn a little bit about business. Forbes has a really interesting article titled “13 Ways to Help Your Children Understand Business”. It was written by Dan Matthews, and posted on May 30, 2014. He gathered tips that will help parents to encourage their kids to become interested in finance and business. Each tip came from someone who is involved in business. One of those … Continue reading

Is it Ever Ok to Bribe your Kids?

How do you get your children to do what you want them to? What do you do to encourage them to do certain things and to refrain from doing other things? Many parents have, at least sometimes, resorted to bribing their children. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Is it ever ok to bribe your kids? New findings reveal some interesting answers to these questions. First, it would be helpful to figure out what a bribe is (and what it isn’t). Author Ellen Perry points out that there is a continuum to be aware of. Motivation is one one end, … Continue reading

Earn Money Selling Children’s Clothing

Selling children’s clothing can be an easy way to earn money! You can make your own hours and work as much or as little as you like. Whether you need an income that will allow you to stay home with children, a fun project that will earn money, or some extra cash to put toward debt, consider earning money by selling children’s clothing. How to Get Started The nice thing about selling children’s clothing is that, if you have children, you can start with the items that they have outgrown! This means that initially, there is no cost to you. … Continue reading

The Free Money Box

In our home, we have a free money box. Thanks to this box, we have been able to afford things, both necessities and treats, that we might not otherwise have, or at least been able to justify. To start our free money box, I purchased an inexpensive but sturdy cardboard box with a lid and label. I titled the label, and set to work. I started by going through the house and gathering up all of the unused gift cards that we had from the many places that they were hiding: drawers, purses, bags, cards, closets, pockets, etc. All of … Continue reading

How to Save Money on School Supplies

Tis the season for back to school supplies. Parents everywhere are facing this time with a mixture of joy and dread. The summer will soon be over, and how on earth will they pay for all of the stuff that there kids need? If they are smart, budget-conscious consumers, they may try using the following strategies to bring the cost of needed school supplies down to just pennies on the dollar. Shop Multiple Stores Retail stores are fighting hard to get your back to school dollar, but not all sales are created equal. That is why if you want to … Continue reading

Lunch and a Movie and a Dinner, Too

On Saturday, we got to experience something my kids had been looking forward to for weeks: the second Despicable Me movie. My youngest choose it as his birthday outing. Normally, we let them choose between going out to eat or going to a movie. Nine times out of ten, they choose the movie. We had planned, as we usually do, to take in the movie at the local movie theater for the matinée showing, which is the least expensive way to do it. Instead, though a misunderstanding with some friends, we wound up driving 45 minutes away to a movie … Continue reading