Their ‘Starbucks’ was coffee at 10 in the morning and at 4 in the afternoon in each other’s homes. They all took turns hosting each day, coming away with many new crafts, recipies and practical ideas in the end. Thanks.

Get out the ratty old books and read them on the couch. Find forgotten sheets of stickers and lay them out with fresh sheets of paper OR cut up cereal boxes! Wash some grubby old toys in the kitchen sink — all of a sudden your tot will find them highly desirable. Repair a button or hem by hand with your kid looking on or ‘helping’ snip the thread. Iron something and hang it in the sunshine — when you ‘merchandise’ your own things this way you see them in a new light. This feeds three birds with one bread — time with your kid, a lesson about taking care of what you have, and rediscovering why you liked an item enough to buy it in the first place. I call this ’shopping in your own home’ — make the bed, lay out your clothes, iron stuff, try on different combinations, etc. I swear half of shopping is done out of not wanting to do the cleaning and ironing ourselves — go into a shop and voila! Everything’s clean and ironed! So you buy it and take it home, where it gets dirty and wrinkled, so you go out again, etc. DUMB.

Oh, and bake. Stop making excuses, just do it. Make a mess, go ahead. It’s cheap, it’s fun, and at the end you have food you didn’t have before. It’s really important for kids to learn that they have the ability to feed themselves. For that matter, start a garden. It’s really not hard! Just bung something in the ground or in a pot and see what happens. I did that and ended up giving away 8000 tomatoes and huge bundles of sage, lavender and oregano to passing neighbours by the end of the same summer! And I swear I know less about gardening than anyone I know!

PS I’m working on my posh coffee habit. Yesterday I was ON MY WAY IN to Starbucks and I turned around and walked away!!! I guess only I know how amazing that is. Funny — I got home and my husband said “Hi Honey, there’s fresh coffee made” HA HA! Jenny 1, Starbucks zero!!!

Gail, thank you for your blog. Reading it daily helps me keep my spending realistic. I’m now planning my purchases and thinking about what I need vrs want. And for the things I want I’m planning for those purchases.

Though I must say, as a “Banker” I take a little offense. Not everyone in the financial business is looking to get you in over your head and make you spend your money. We want you to be better of financially. We want you to save and invest your money. We don’t want you in a position where you can’t pay your bills - then we don’t get paid and no one is better off.
You can’t blame your bank for your fees, rates etc if you don’t take the time to talk about your needs and review your products. There are so many different types of credit cards and bank accounts and other products available. What’s good for me might not be good for you, so we need to discuss your needs and decide together what’s going to be a benefit.

All I’m saying is - get together in your neighbourhood - take turns, taking the younger kids down to the park or fields and let them loose - they organize themselves into teams and trust me, they work out their issues, kids are very smart and very resourseful if we give them a chance. Eventually, this will become a habit - getting out of the house.

I do beleive that if the kid is going to make a career in sports - ok, enroll him/her in organized sports - but otherwise there is no need for that.

To me, organized sports has become a way to make money and it’s for the parents mostly, not for the kid. Just so the parent can say - oh look, I am such a good parent, I have my kid in an organized sport, what organized sport does your child play?

Feed them properly, monitor the eletronics and be there when they need you and the kids will grow up just fine. I have an example right here in my house.

So my question is - what about kids who are not into sports - which would be my best friend’s son - super fantastic kid, great student, great person - where did he learn his lessons from? To me - you, the parent, are the best teacher of all! Thanks.

Exercise is exercise; however, to say that laissez-faire exercise and organized sports are identical in terms of the lessons they teach is not supported by any research that I know of, nor by my experience. If you have better research available, I’d love to read it.

PS: Just wanted to add - my son is an excellent student and reads every single day before he goes to sleep, reads on the bus when he commutes to school, etc etc. No TV, no phone, no electronics, nothing in his room. Oh yes, and no cell phone either, he carries quaters, needs to call home, uses the pay phone at school or where ever he is. So I don’t understand, what you mean by ‘I think that {not being in organized sports} may ultimately cost far more than you realize’ Geoff. He is growing up to be a fine young man, and I am very proud of him. Thanks.