Month: June 2010

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Our kids definitely know the difference between needs and wants.

This is not to say that they haven’t learned to fully appreciate what it means to want something and to need something, (they’re rather spoiled, yes, I said it), but they know the difference. And I hope, when that day comes when they have to choose between the newest gadget on the market or say, eating, they 1. can first determine which is more important and 2. end up with full tummies.

Short of sitting our boys down and going through our checkbook with them, they know our financial situation. They don’t know precise numbers (and it’s really none of their business, quite frankly), but they know when money is tight and when it’s not so tight.

Money is tight for us right now.

With Kevin out of work and me staying home to take care of him until he can get back on his feet (though he’s on his feet now and we’re fast approaching that day when he will no longer need me 24/7), neither one of us is working. We’re okay, we have some money in savings, our house is paid for, our cars are paid off, we don’t have a lot of debt, but still, we’re penny pinching.

Though our boys have never been the type of kids to nag, beg, or throw fits if they didn’t get what they wanted, they haven’t really wanted much. As long as they have their games, Internet connection, and Mountain Dew, they’re happy campers. And if a new game comes out and they’re dying for it, they can either A. pay for it themselves with birthday/Christmas money or B. wait until their birthdays and/or Christmas comes around.

We do not give our kids an allowance. If they want something, they can work for it (and by working for it they can either do something around the house that isn’t automatically expected of them, or they can continue to be good students so that if they want something, we’re more apt to say yes), or they can play the waiting game and wait for it.

So, our boys have a pretty good sense of how important money is and when they have it, to spend it wisely. Dude is especially good about this. In fact, I daresay he’s cheap (like his momma). But Jazz … is perhaps not so careful about his money. I can see him impulse buying. In fact, it amuses me whenever Jazz wants something and Dude is all like, “Why do you want that? Why don’t you wait a few more weeks when it’s bound to either go on sale or end up free online somewhere.”

In essence, he talks him off that spending ledge.

All of this to say, YES, I think it’s crucial that parents talk to their kids about the economy. About the importance of spending money wisely, of saving money and staying out of debt, of working hard and finding that balance between enjoying the fruits of their labor and managing their money wisely.

Especially now, in the age of instant gratification and this feeling that they are somehow ENTITLED to life’s little luxuries.

Um … NO.

It’s also important to teach them Economics 101. About how supply and demand work and what happens to prices when that gets out of whack. Or how government CAN be a good thing, as long as they don’t become TOO intrusive and want to take control over nearly every aspects of our lives.

Like now.

Oh yes. The time period we’re living in right now? IS THE PERFECT TIME TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN A THING OR TWO ABOUT OUR ECONOMY.

Just sayin’.

All of these lessons need to be age appropriate, of course, but they need to be taught. If we hope to raise the next generation of fiscally responsible adults, it’s OUR responsibility to teach our children NOW about how the world works and how it can, and will, affect them in the future.

But ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS. (*ahem* Are you listening, Mr. President?). We can talk to our kids until we’re blue in the face (or bankrupt), they won’t truly learn the lesson, they won’t take us seriously, until we LIVE what we preach. So, we teach being frugal? Then we spend wisely. We discuss WHY we can’t go out to eat every night. We talk about how we would rather spend the money on, say, swimming for the whole family instead of buying that new Barbie doll. (Not that our boys WANT a Barbie doll, I’m just using a girly example here because I don’t get the chance to use girly examples very often. Hush). We talk about options and test our children by asking them what they think we should do.

We help them manage their own money by “guiding” them to make the right decisions. We trim the fat and instead of paying for high speed Internet, we make due with the slower speeds because it’s cheaper. Or we buy a pay-as-you-go cell phone plan instead of going the iPhone route.

Life is all about making sacrifices and finding YOUR OWN personal balance.

I hope we’ve been successful in teaching our boys that lesson. I’d like to say, yes, we have, but we won’t truly know how we’ve done until they are in a situation where they are required to make their own decisions without us.

I’m rather looking forward to seeing how they do.

There’s no shame in talking to your kids about your financial situation. It’s reality. I wouldn’t scare them, and like I said, keep it age appropriate, but it’s (fiscally) irresponsible to NOT teach our children about the importance of maintaining a healthy economy.

A healthy economy doesn’t just happen. It’s not handed to us. It’s not created for us. WE all have to pitch in and work to make it happen – not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of our children and grandchildren.

Happy Flag Day! Do you know what Flag Day / Week represents?

From whitehouse.gov:

When the Second Continental Congress adopted the American flag on June 14, 1777, the thirteen stripes alternating red and white, and thirteen white stars in a blue field, represented “a new constellation.” On Flag Day, and throughout National Flag Week, we celebrate its lasting luminosity, and the enduring American story that it represents.

Although the configuration of stars and stripes has changed over the years it has been flown, its significance and symbolism have not wavered. The flag that once helped unite a new Nation to confront tyranny and oppression still flies today as an unequivocal emblem of freedom and liberty. The same flag that has been raised on beaches and battlefields still adorns the uniforms of our heroic sons and daughters serving in America’s Armed Forces, including our troops serving in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 14, 2010, as Flag Day and the week beginning June 13, 2010, as National Flag Week. I direct the appropriate officials to display the flag on all Federal Government buildings during that week, and I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day and National Flag Week by displaying the flag. I also call upon the people of the United States to observe with pride and all due ceremony those days from Flag Day through Independence Day, also set aside by the Congress (89 Stat. 211), as a time to honor America, to celebrate our heritage in public gatherings and activities, and to publicly recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.

Are you proudly displaying YOUR American Flag?

WE ARE!

Aren’t you PROUD to be an American?!

WE ARE!

Doesn’t it make you crazy whenever you hear about people who diss the flag and/or get offended whenever someone wears a flag t-shirt or displays the flag at a gathering/office/school?

YES IT DOES!

I saw a tweet on Twitter this morning and it’s been eating at me ever since.

Now I ask you who, in their right mind, would be offended by his/her own country’s flag at any given moment?

I truly don’t understand where people are coming from here.

Care to enlighten me?

I mean, if people truly hate this country SO MUCH, then why don’t they move to another country? If flying our nation’s flag, the flag that represents the struggles and the lives of so many men and women who died to defend her, truly offends people, then why in God’s name are they still on American soil? WHY do we kowtow to these insensitive, unpatriotic boobs?

I, for one, will not tolerate anyone bad mouthing or decimating our flag, or our heritage. And people, if we don’t stop these “offended” nutjobs all in the name of being “politically correct,” then what the hell kind of message is that sending to our military men and women?

To our children?

Have we really become a nation with our tail between our legs?

What kind of message is that sending to the rest of the world? Exactly how is that honoring the men and women who have DIED for this country these nearly 234 years??

I say, let’s grow a freaking backbone here!

Here are some examples of people getting offended by the flag just these past months:

Earlier this week, Debbie McLucas, a supervisor at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, Texas, was told she would have to take down a 3×5 American flag that she had hung near her desk in an office she shares with three other supervisors. Her boss told her a fellow supervisor, who had immigrated to the United States from Africa 14 years earlier, found it “offensive.” The hospital says it received other complaints from visitors. These must be the type of hospital visitors who stumble upon staff offices as well as close their eyes walking into the building, since the stars and stripes waves proudly outside.

source:

Here’s another gem:

By now you may have heard the story of five students at a California High School who were punished and forced to turn t-shirts inside out because they depicted the American flag. Principal Nick Boden and Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez of Live Oaks High School in Santa Clara County admonished the boys for their displays of patriotism because it was May 5, or Cinco de Mayo in Mexico. The students were sent home, and their parents are now justly fighting the district over the school’s ill-concieved actions.

Isn’t the great thing about America that we can celebrate more than one culture at a time, regardless of the day? Will wearing an American flag on St. Patrick’s Day offend the Irish, or during Oktoberfest offend Germans? And isn’t it a bit condescending to assume that Mexican-Americans don’t also revere the flag of their adopted nation?

source:

And the kicker?

Remarkably, Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Peubla is hardly celebrated in Mexico itself. It is voluntarily observed in America as a celebration of Mexican-American heritage.

It absolutely boggles my mind that any person, lucky enough to live in our great nation, would dare to complain or criticize the symbol of our country. And it disheartens me that more people are not willing to take a stand against these radicals and say ENOUGH ALREADY. This is our country and we are proud of her. We will NOT tolerate your disrespect or cater to your attempts to belittle, or excuse, what we’ve fought to obtain.

The ideals of America’s founding are timeless. And yet the cause of Freedom is never complete, but requires eternal vigilance. Not only the cloth and colors of the flag must endure, but the liberty it represents must not perish from the earth. In the words of the National Anthem:

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On this symbolic day, not only Americans, but free people everywhere should pause to ponder the meaning of this red, white, and blue flag.

source:

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

You got a problem with our constitution? You don’t agree with our foundations? You think the Bill of Rights is negotiable?

Then I have one word for you: LEAVE.

If we want to maintain our precious freedoms, then we must FIGHT for them. Stand UP for your country, folks.

Proudly display our flag and to hell with anyone who doesn’t like it.

(Sorry for the IN-YOUR-FACE post, but dog gone it, I’m sick of people not standing up and saying something about the crap that we’re being forced to endure right now. NO MORE KOWTOWING!).