Our Kids

Last year some time I heard a financial planner speak about how to teach your kids about money. Jason and I have had some ideas of our own along the way formed via our parenting coach Barb Grady. We are finally putting those things in to practice.

The girls got Moonjars for the holidays, these have separate banks for spending, saving and sharing. We are giving the girls $10 per month and they get to spend $8, and save/share $1. Jason thinks they should spend $5, save/share $2.50 but he has never bought anything for them apparently because at spend $5 they would have to save for like 4 months just to buy doll clothes and I am not sure they have that much patience at 5.

Anyhoo, the deal is that if they want to buy something other than necessities they have to spend their own money. So if they don’t need a new pair of shoes but they want some then they have to buy them. If they want a new doll/toy then they have to buy it. So far Piper has had one tantrum because she wanted new cowgirl boots and I said she had to buy them and Lela has made a list a page long of what she wants to buy but has not bought anything.

What makes it a little easier is that I don’t take them to Target or any other store much anymore so they don’t ask for much. We want them to know what is like to have money, to spend money and to buy things they really want instead of just stuff.

Of course I have veto power so they can’t buy $8 of candy etc. but that has never been an issue since we don’t buy candy and they don’t chew gum so that rack on the way out of the store doesn’t really hold much appeal. I just don’t want them to be those 10 year olds that have no concept of what money is, where it comes from or what it does. Like those kids that think food only comes from the grocery store, lol!

Well that is what I get for thinking we turned a corner, lol! Lela was the last to get sick and with a mom 37 weeks pregnant and two sisters sick ahead of you being the last one sick is no fun. By the time Lela got around to getting sick I was out of gas from the Rotovirus and whatever other virus Piper had gotten and passed along.

So lethargic Lela laid on the sofa all day Friday, stopped eating and drinking on Saturday and by Sunday my momdar started going off and I knew this was different than what Piper had had originally. Sunday morning Jason headed off to the Apple store with Piper and Landis in tow and right after he left I decided Lela needed to go to urgent care. I schlepped her down there and we met with a really nice doctor that said he was concerned with the sound of her cough but did not hear anything in her lungs. I brought her back home (with 3 prescriptions I did not intent to fill) and she had a spurt of energy followed by surly lethargy. She wouldn’t drink unless I badgered her.

Monday (today) rolled around and I was on the horn with the ped at 8AM making an appt. I took all 3 girls in since my ped is awesome about checking them all when one of them has something. Good news is that Piper was cleared for school and Landis sounded fine. Bad news was that Lela has pneumonia in her left lung. Sigh, enter the train:)

On the bright side we caught it super early and she should be fine in the next few days. She has already perked up around here but that might be because she is missing more than just the playoff football games now that Piper is back in school. Anyhoo, it has been a twin love fest since Piper got home from school so I expect Lela will sleep well tonight after playing non stop with Piper all afternoon.