Fun with MoneyWritten by Arleen M. Kaptur
Ah, a child's world - full of magic and fun. As parents, grandparents and other assorted relatives, a child's conception, understanding, and knowledge of money comes in many forms. There are birthday and holiday gifts, going shopping with grandma, and even helping a small child select a gift for mom and dad. While on surface all this is just fine and good, have you ever stopped to think exactly what you are teaching this small person about finances and money - knowledge that will last them a lifetime and either make life easier to handle or more difficult. Money sure doesn't grow on trees - but to today's small children, it does come out of machines. Mom or Dad just press some magic keys and a whole bunch of money comes out - In a store, a small plastic fit-in-your-hand card will get you anything from candy to a new outfit. Kids have a lot of fun playing grown-up and using credit cards and taking cash from ATM's - but do they know that credit card bill has to be paid, or that money from machine is really your money - first placed in an account, then being able to be taken out. Even smallest of children can understand some basic facts about money. A lost glove or shoe will result in a trip to store and money paid out for shoes and gloves. School lunches cost money and teacher will collect that envelope before child gets a meal. The friendly person behind counter at McDonald's will not give you your food until you give them some pieces of paper and some metal coins. You are not taking fun out of an outing if you do visit an ATM or use a credit card with a child. Just a few words - explained as simply as you can-that machine is not actually giving you machine's money - and that that plastic card is not actually buying toy or lunch.
| | Long Distance Caregiving for a Loved One is Particularly Written by Linda LaPointe
Long Distance Caregiving for a Loved One is Particularly Difficult Word count 544 at 60 CPL By Linda LaPointe Use this article freely in print or electronic media, but please use author’s byline and let me know where and how it is used. Long Distance Caregiving for a Loved One is Particularly Difficult The phone rang at 5 a.m. John was sure it couldn’t be good news at that hour. He was right. Mom’s neighbors were calling him from 850 miles away in Texas to say that she was out watering her roses an hour ago on a cold, early spring morning. John knew that she had been failing. She wasn’t same Mom he could always count to stand by him. Now he needed to stand by her. But how? Families are now living further apart from each other. This is difficult because your elders require ever-increasing assistance, yet distance between you makes it difficult to perform tasks of a primary caregiver. But most elders are reluctant to leave their home of many years to move to town in which their adult children live. This reluctance can become a stressful point of contention between adult children and their parent(s). Often, it is a financial issue. In-home care and assisted living can be much more expensive in New York or California than in center of country. Resources simply may not stretch as far to allow one to live as one chooses. Regardless of reasons, many adult children find themselves far away and concerned that parents are not doing as well as they may insist in those telephone visits. There are some ways to help manage long distance caregiving. +Try to visit as soon as possible to assess situation. Take notes of possible problem areas and gather information about senior resources in their area.
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