Search Results for: blog we know is wrong so why do we do it

4 Reasons to Helicopter Parent Your Pet

It has been said that helicopter parenting might not be the most ideal parenting style. Kids need some room to make mistakes and learn from them. That being said, there are a lot of great reasons why you should helicopter parent your pet. Reasons Why You Should Helicopter Parent Your Pets Pets Don’t “Grow Out of It” Babies and toddlers go through a stage where they put everything they can grab into their mouths. They will grow out of this stage eventually. Pets, however, will always have a tendency to try and eat things that may or may not be … Continue reading →

6 Steps to a Simple, Nonmaterialistic Life

Six easy steps you can take, starting today, to live a more simple and debt-free life  Live Below Your Means Did you know that the average American spends $1.25 for each dollar he or she actually earns? Scary isn’ it? We live in a culture where living above your means is so normal, so casual, that we don’t even realize it. Create a budget and aim to live below your means, not above. Value Usefulness Over Status The clothes we choose, the cars we drive, the homes we live in and the electronics we carry sometimes are often purchased for … Continue reading →

Pregnancy and Last Minute Changes

Yesterday I found out that one of my two midwives left the practice.  Yesterday also happened to mark a calendar month before my due date.  As you might guess, in my hormonal state (and given that I’m also just kind of a worrier anyway), I found this all upsetting. Now that there’s only one midwife, there’s a chance I might have a regular obstetrician deliver my baby, if my midwife isn’t on call when I go into labor.  Not only that, it will be one I won’t know, because all of my prenatal appointments have been with my midwives.  It’s … Continue reading →

FInancial Lessons I Learned from Selling a Car

Want me to tell you what I recently learned from selling a car? Actually it was two vehicles, In the past two weeks. One was an SUV and the other a pick up truck. It was an interesting experience. Our normal modus operandi is to purchase a car and then maintain it until it basically turns into dust, so selling cars is pretty new to both my husband and myself. So why did we do it and what did I learn in the process? Be Prepared to Seize an Opportunity There is something called an opportunity cost that can work … Continue reading →

When Other Moms Are the Enemy

You know how they say we can be our own worst enemy?  When it comes to parenting, I think we can have two enemies—not only ourselves but other moms. Ever notice how men don’t compare their fathering skills to one another.  But women do? Of course, get a group of men together and it’s highly unlikely they are going to be discussing their children anyway.  Their conversations tend to swirl around work, sports and the latest home project. But put a group of women together and their children tend to pop up in the conversation.  And unless it’s a group … Continue reading →

Teen Challenges: Lying

This blog is a kickoff to a little series I will be doing on teen challenges.  While some of the issues we face in parenting teenagers are different for each family, there are many common ones that we deal with. So let’s start off with a big one—the juicy lies that sometimes come out of our teen’s mouths.  Oh, this is one that I have the most difficulty in dealing with.  Because I have taught my children from early on that the consequences will be much more severe if caught lying. By now my teens should have figured out that … Continue reading →

Why Credit Card Spending Doesn’t Feel Real

It is true. Spending cash is painful to us, while using a credit card doesn’t quite feel real. Oh sure, logically we know that we are spending the money on that new television, iPad or boots, but there is a well-documented disconnect in our brains that makes it much easier to spend when we do it with a credit card. Think I might be wrong? The average household credit card debt through the end of 2012 was $15,422. The average cash debt? That is $0, of course. With cash, you don’t want spend what you don’t have. So why does … Continue reading →

Public Discipline or Humiliation?

Discipline has taken a new form.  Nowadays parents have the option to go public with it.  Acts of discipline have been displayed for the entire world to see on social media outlets like Facebook and across the World Wide Web, such as You Tube. But is this really public discipline?  Or is it more like public humiliation? I know many parents who agree with those that choose to broadcast to the world some of the extreme methods of disciplining children.  Who could forget the father that shot his daughter’s laptop because of her disrespect and abuse of Facebook? There have … Continue reading →

Why Cash Might Be the Best Gift

Some people feel uncomfortable giving cash as a gift. That was never a problem in my family. In every Italian-American family wedding I’ve been to, the bride carries around a little purse just for the purpose. The envelopes get oohed and ahhed over more than does the sauce maker or the set of bed sheets. I do understand, however, that many people aren’t comfortable giving cash. They often opt for gift cards instead. A recent survey shows that people like getting gift cards, too. According to the 2012 Holiday Consumer Spending Survey, about six out of ten people would like … Continue reading →