Saving $$$
September 22, 2009
I don’t know about you, folks, but teaching kids to save money has been an important thing to me, and something that I practised from the time they first earned pocket money. It was always an uphill battle, as kids see money and want to spend it (just like I do).
One of the disciplines I instilled in them was to give them a saving target – either an item they wanted to buy or an amount (say $20 for an 8 year old). I also for a while insisted that they save half of their allowance while free to spend the remainder as soon as they wanted (= immediately).
And then I have relatives whose kids own shares by the time they’re 13 or buy their own xboxes in record time because of the saving habits and work ethics they’ve developed.
So what practises do you use in your family when it comes to kids and finances?
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In other news, I’m currently on holidays, so if I don’t reply, I”m not ignoring you. Feel free to comment and have a grand old conversation amongst yourselves without me. Just don’t be one of those jerks who tries to fill my comments pages with swearwords and links to naughty sites .
(Loosely) Related Posts:
Talk like a Pirate – yar!
September 18, 2009
Before I abandan the computer for a two week holiday, I had to bring this one to your attention (assuming you haven’t already ironed your eyepatch in readiness that is).
September 19th be Talk Like a Pirate Day. And I be the kind of scurvy dog that drags his kids into the fun!
My boys and I will be swordfighting with rolled up towels and addressing shop assistants as “Me Hearty”.
How will you celebrate it?
Boys and Reading
September 16, 2009
We’re often told (or we’re seeing) that adolescent males don’t read. Well…
We had high school parent-teacher interviews this week and had four great conversations with four great teachers. Really revitalized our faith in the teaching profession after a bad year last year at a different school.
One of the conversations we had was with oldest son’s history teacher – a terrific fella who loves Monty Python as much as do and who (when I said “My son didn’t start your class expecting the Spanish Inquisition”) responded correctly with “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” (follow the link if you don’t get the humor).
More intelligently, he made a great point that adolesent lads tend to read only about what obsesses them. When suddenly they are captivated by soccer, start leaving soccer magazines and books and websites open around the place, and they’ll read. When they become obsessed about heavy metal, leave that around the place. In other words, young men in their teens are not natural readers unless there is something to read for.
Now me as a teenager, I was so captivated by the escapism of star wars that I’d read anything science fiction that I could get my hands on … 
even if I didn’t understand it (I’m talking to you, Asimov!). Similarly, when I began to follow Manchester United I even read a “biography” of the team. Currently oldest son, who can read very well but has traditionally been averse to reading books since he got too old for me to read for him, now can be found almost nightly reading up on Medieval History (largely due to the influence of this teacher).
What’s your experience of this, to the positive or to the contrary? What could you “leave around” for your son to pick up and read?
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By the way, I will be on holidays from all things web-based from the 19th to the 30th September, so if I don’t reply to your comments then, don’t feel slighted. You have my permission to carry on conversations in my absence – as long as you keep it civil. 
And no, Mr Thief, I won’t be away from my house, so don’t go trying to rob me during that period.
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Loosely related posts:
- Teacher v. Parent?
- Behaviour Managment for Boys
- Dads Influence Their Daughters’ Interest In Math
- Student Leadership
Mm. Chocolate.
September 8, 2009
Going out for dessert is a great way to keep the relationship with your kids alive and (sorry, I have to make a Dad joke) sweet.
Bonding by chocolate. Is there anything finer for father and son to bond over than an obscenely rich chocolate dessert using 3 kinds of chocolate?
And yes, the bigger of the two boys had a very messy face and hands afterwards.
Should the Government Ban Junk Food Ads?
September 2, 2009
There’s an idea being strongly advocated at the moment that junk food ads be banned during children’s TV viewing time (in Australia, this is). One aspect of the debate I’m hearing/reading in the media today is whether or not the government should be the one banning it between 7 am and 9 pm.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is rejecting these calls for a ban. Apparently, the potential effects on their hip pocket are far scarier to them than the increasing rates of childhood obesity and the widespread behavioral problems amongst our kids and teenagers.
But maybe I’m just another cynical Gen X when I say things like that. I invite your response.
As the Sydney-Morning Herald article (the link above) points out:
The media authority needs to give considered responses to a few basic questions:
1. Does marketing work? If not, then they should let universities know so that it is no longer taught, and tell companies so they can lay off their expensive marketing departments.
2. Does marketing junk food to children increase their consumption of these foods? If not, then they need to tell food marketers not to waste their billions of marketing dollars targeting kids to do just that.
3. Does a high intake of calorie-laden food and beverages lead to unhealthy weight gain? If not, then scientists need to bury that particular mountain of evidence.
I think they’re great questions. Because an admission that marketing works is an admission that marketing strongly affects kids’ appetites for junk food which in turn means that if junk food is bad for kids, the advertisers/producers feel fine about harming children to line their own pockets.
Now I don’t want to be a hypocrite here. I eat my share of bad food too. But I’m also fighting an uphill battle for my kids (though it feels like with my kids some times) for moderation, for their food pyramids to have junkfood in the tiny space at the top, not occupying the larger portions of their diet further down the pyramid. And I want my boys to enjoy TV without being indoctrinated by advertising which basically says “if it feels good, do it.” If kids swallow that message hook-line-sinker, it’s no stretch of the imagination to believe it makes it even harder to say no to other things in the future that seem to feel good in the initial stages like binge-drinking, drug-taking, sex in the backseat of cars …
I invite your response.
One stream of thought in the debate is that parents should stop blaming the advertisers and “just say no” to their children. Well, ok. There’s a point there; I say no to my kids apparently often enough for one of them to accuse me occasionally of being the worst dad in the world. ["You won't let me eat a bag of lollies (candy) right before I go to bed??!! You're the worst Dad in the world!!!]
But let’s be honest. Monkey see, monkey do. Any cursory study of the development of the human brain reveals that in childhood (especially early childhood when many habits are formed), the brain is a sponge and the child often learns by seeing and copying.
Kids are swamped in advertising that shows them people being made happy by eating crap. If you said no, no, no to a kid about eating junk, and limited it to a relatively healthy frequency, a lot of kids are still so indoctrinated by marketing media (and the prevalence of the junk in the school yard) that they’ll find a way to get it, even if they have to steal 50 cents here and there, sneak around to their friends’ places after school or guilt-trip their grandparents into providing it.
I invite a response to that thought.
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In other news, still trying to get time to fix the problems with the site. Hope you’ll perservere with me.
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