Sneakers

The key to teaching your children about making investments is to teach them widom – unfortunately, that’s something that have to learn for themselves, but you can teach them to save. By establishing a savings account from an early age, you are helping teach your child about the value of money. You can start an UGMA account (one for minors) at just about any bank for a very little amount. It can be as little as $1.00 in some places, others require a $25 minimum but then don’t care if your deposit is a penny or $100.

TODDLERS:

Start them off witha piggy bank. Learning to place spare change into the piggy and shake it will give them a tactile concept of how much money is worth.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KIDS:

This is the time to start a real savings account. Today many schools in the USA are implementing voluntary partnerships with local banks to offer student savings accounts where either the bank representatives come to the school once a month for deposits, or the students themselves do a mock bank and take on duties of the tellers with the bank reps help. Having your child participate at school does take some of the control out of your hands, but it also allows them the experience of peer pressure and "keeping up with the Jones" and offers you a way to teach a valuable lesson there too.

TEENAGERS:

Teenagers are the most apt to spend money of any childhood age group, so it’s important to have instilled good money attitudes before this age. They may be reading for a checking account, and how they have handled savings now that they have more perceived expenses (like that to die for pair of sneakers) will be a clue to how ready they are to invest. I don’t feel that children are of a maturity level to learn about investing (unless you’ve birthed an idiot savante financial genius) until they are teenagers.

First steps might be converting their savings into a CD or money market accounts. You can help them select companies that you know are good investments and allow them to choose those based on their personal preferences. Sharing your own experiences is very useful, but ultimately it takes allowing your teen a bit of leeway to take their own risks with their finances. However, you want them learning to invest in their future to be a positive experience so do stay involved, but keep it small investment wise until they get better versed about what a market is and how it all works.

So, teach them to save, instill good money making decisions, give them a heads up on what you’ve done and then gently guide them to good starter decisions. After that, you will have done what parents are suppose to do – teach their kids to make choices on their own.

The last thing any parent wants is a rebellious teenager. If the universe were a perfect place all teenagers would be mindful of the rules, respectful of their parents and ready to take on the adult world the moment they turned 18. Since we don’t live in Mayberry, this is hardly ever the case.

Every parent has to deal with a rebellious teen to varying degrees. Whether yours is the one that merely lies about a party or two, or the one who sneaks out, does drugs and maybe even has sex, you always want to keep them safe. No parent can be everywhere their child is, as much as you want to be. You try to watch over them and keep them out of trouble, but how much is too much?

Is the better parent the one who digs through their teen’s room, reading private diaries, text messages, and letters, or the one who doesn’t? The answer to this question is a hard one to figure out. Sometimes your teenager is too good at hiding things but you know they’re in trouble, other times, you are simply wondering what’s going on in their life and if there’s anything they’re not telling you.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was a teenager, worrying about curfews and getting caught sneaking off campus at lunch. My mother was strict to a degree that borders on dictator in certain areas of my life because I was rebellious and wanted to do WHAT I wanted WHEN I wanted. Did she check up on me from time to time? Yes. Did she make sure she asked as many questions as she could before and after the fact? Yes. Did I get busted for a lot of things I shouldn’t have been doing? Absolutely. Did she ever violate my privacy? NO.

So did that make her a bad parent or a good parent? In my case it made her a very good parent. With my personality most of what I did to get in trouble was away from my home, away from prying eyes as much as possible. I had one or two things that may have gotten me in trouble to a degree hidden in my room, but no drugs or anything of that sort. I knew for a fact that my mother would barely even go into my room if there was something of hers I borrowed and she needed. Her mindset was that she would never violate my privacy by going through my things and I would never do that to her.

This worked for me. Had she been one to snoop through my room, you can bet she wouldn’t find anything because why would I keep things where she could find them? If I had a diary and thought for even a minute that she had read it, I can guarantee I would have done even more things to get myself in

It’s getting darker and colder outside

The frogs are chirping and bats are flying

The moon is bright and the stars shine

The kids are praying and closing their eyes

To dream about little boy and girl things

The mommys and daddys sneak off alone

Teenagers sneak out to ride around

Thats what happens at night

Well at least in Madison County

Public schools should have students in uniform. In elementary schools, uniforms keep kids on the same level. They are able to concentrate in class because what their friend is wearing is not an issue. Many times schools become a fashion show for the latest sneakers and clothing. Kids compete for friends by what they have on. But when uniforms are put into the picture, competition is not a problem. As a result, students can focus on what is important as oppose to which sneakers are coming out and when.

Some people believe that uniforms should not carry over into high school. I completely disagree. In high school, the threat of gangs and violence are higher than they are in elementary schools. Having teenagers in uniform would also prevent many fights from breaking out over petty things like who dresses better. Of course, the students would feel that the uniforms do not allow them to express their individuality. But would you rather have individuality and be dead from a gang fight? Or would you rather be in uniform and know that there is no competition to fight over?

In my high school, my EMT class has to wear uniform. Our uniform provides the class with a sense of pride. Even though we don’t get to wear our jeans, we know we represent our school and the FDNY. People are impressed when they see the class altogether and looking professional in uniform. Personally, I like the uniform because I don’t have to worry about what the other kids in the class are wearing. We all know we are wearing the same thing, so there is no way someone can dress better than someone else. Being in uniform prevents distractions and keeps us all focused on the same goals, passing the class and becoming EMTs. My EMT class is the best program in our school simply because of our uniforms.