Parenting by Strengths

Teaching Children about Generosity

By Amy Johnson, MSW
Diligent Joy Parent Coaching and Education

With billions of marketing dollars targeting children ages 8-18 each year in our country, teaching children about generosity can seem like a daunting task for some parents.  How do we counter all the media messages to spend, spend, spend? Read on for some of my favorite resources on this topic.

• Share Save Spend:   Nathan Dugan is the best selling author of Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How not to be your child's ATM. Check out Nathan Dugan's website, full of thoughtful ideas about how to teach children (and adults) to share, then save, then spend their money.   With his approach, children and families can learn that, in a country where (compared to much of the world) most people have more than enough, we can afford to share with others who don’t have as much, save for a rainy day or long-term goal, and take care of our immediate needs with the remainder.  For a cool tool to help kids learn about how to divide up allowances and gifts, check out the Moon Jar.
• Volunteer together. Generosity isn't always about money.  It can also be about time, and doing service to help your whole community.  One local event happening in my city of Federal Way, WA on February 22nd is One Day Federal Way, put together by a local youth leadership class.  Check it out and get inspired to create your own event—or check out Volunteers of America, Volunteer Match, or Serve.gov to find opportunities for volunteering in your area.  Hope to see you at One Day Federal Way if you're in the area!  
• Learn your love language and your family members', too!  Knowing how someone likes to be appreciated can help others know how to be generous--with words, gifts, time, service, etc.  Take the quiz to find out your love language here.
• Get more info.  For more information on ways to teach generosity to your children, check out this article:  Seven Ways to Teach Your Children Generosity.

Valentine’s Day may be over, but there are still lots of ways to spread the love.  Get started today!

For more information about any of these techniques, contact me for a free consultation to see if parent coaching is a fit for you!

 

How to Save Money on Costumes this Halloween!

17 Secrets for Cutting the Family Budget

I don’t know about you but my family budget has really been squeezed with school clothes, school supplies and activities fees for the kids this fall. The holidays are looming and I want to figure out how to save more money.

 

I went to a pro, Liss Burnell, founder of www.budget101.com, and asked her to put together “17 Secrets to Cutting Your Family Budget.” Liss agreed and she’ll share the 17 solutions on “Real Parents. Real Solutions.” on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 12 CT. You can listen live or listen to the replay at your convenience by clicking on this link: http://www.tinyurl.com/realparentsrealsolutions .

 

Talking Money....

by Mary Ivory

The title of this post was set to be "talking money problems with Kids" but as I did the work behind composing that, I was met with many money talk links! So when overwhelmed, I go back to basics of self care and take a deep breath. I encourage you to do that too! Now! Okay, take another deep breath and spend a couple of minutes with this blog spot, send it on to anyone you know who might need to have information at thier figure tips about "what to do next" about money management.

Back in November, I wrote about how to talk with kids about money issues as they were emerging in our world. There are some great links, so click here to read about kids and money.    Here is a short clip from the Early Show Teens and Money that will add to your batch of information.

The link I have added will take you to the most recent information on managing money today. Let me know if they are helpful to you.....

The CBS 2 News is the local Chicago CBS station that has collected links of great information about where to go and what to do about how to strech your dollar no matter where you live. Creatively is needed now. Support is the key. Parents, take care of you. ALL adults need to do this. Knowledge and support is how we are going bounce back and move forward.

I would love to know what you think. If you have links to share on manageing money, let everyone know by writing back here!