ParentWonder

Helping Parents Succeed

Family Budget: How to Keep Your Kids from Feeling Deprived in a Frugal Family

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It may be good for frugal families, as the title suggests. But after reading the article by Maine Mama, wealthy families can put these ideas to use if they don’t want to have spoiled children who do nothing but ask for money.

Maine Mama shares her three strategies:

  • First, involving kids in our financial goals.
  • Second, letting the kids make a lot of financial decisions themselves.
  • Third, try to say “yes” as much as we can.

I may not agree with #3 fully. Saying “yes” too many times may bring more harm than good. But asking why and how to get it are crucial questions. For example, if your kid wants a new bike, ask him why he wants it. If you agree to the new bike, discuss with him how to get it.

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School system sucks. Why not start your own?

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One issue that is close to my heart is our school education system. I know that the current education system does nothing more than teaching academic stuff (eg: alphabets, math, reading) and it’s a one size fits all system.

The students focus too much on academic excellence than other soft skills. The system produces students who go for zero-sum more than win-win.

The current system is not efficient in helping children develop their own unique talents. If you get an "F" in school, you’re doomed to fail. At least that’s how the teachers think.

But in reality, that’s not the case. Name three entrepreneurs who were school drop outs? You can give me the answers easily.

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Advice for Students: Taking Notes that Work

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Note-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our students don’t know how to take notes.

I figure it’s about time to do something about that. Whether you’re a high school junior or a college senior or a grad student or a mid-level professional or the Attorney General of the United States, the ability to take effective, meaningful notes is a crucial skill. Not only do good notes help us recall facts and ideas we may have forgotten, the act of writing things down helps many of us to remember them better in the first place.

Read full: Lifehack.org

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Early rising no good for the heart: study

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Generations have praised the wisdom of getting up early in the morning, but a Japanese study says early-risers are actually at a higher risk of developing heart problems.
The study, conducted by researchers from several universities and hospitals in the western Japanese city of Kyoto, revealed a link between wake-up times and a person’s cardiovascular condition.

"Rising early to go to work or exercise might not be beneficial to health, but rather a risk for vascular diseases," said an abstract of the study.

The study, covering 3,017 healthy adults aged between 23 through 90, found that early risers had a greater risk of heart conditions including hypertension and of having strokes.

Full report: Physorg.com
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Help Your Kids Find Their Own Identity

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Children develop their identity by learning what they like about their environment, their way of dressing, their way of relating to others and the world. For children to develop an identity of their own, parents, the children’s earliest programmers, must sponsor this development of identity. You do this by being aware of your child’s actions and behaviors, and what those tell you about him/her.

For example if your child has a cluttered room, and has to save everything, you probably have a sentimental child that doesn’t like to part with things. If you cleaned your child’s room and threw away “the junk” that they had too much of, you might be ignoring who your child is as a person.

Children, not unlike adults, show their identity in many ways. They show it through the pictures in their room, the friends they associate with, their dress, food choices, activities, etc. They are giving us clues about who they are, as well as taking from us certain things they admire and incorporating those into their identity. Many parents, because of a lack of awareness, forget to ask children important questions that can reveal clues about their child’s belief and value system, and really help instill in them a healthy sense of self.

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