Money

I believe it is important to teach children the value of money, how hard it is to earn it and how easy it is to spend it. Part of that lesson includes the importance of saving. Our kids have been begging - and I mean truly begging - to go to Disney World. I hear at least every other day, "Mommy, when can we go to Disney?" Ugh. So, my response has been, "As soon as we save enough money." I think this may be in the process of backfiring.

My children are now obsessed with money. Truly. If they see any coin in any place - dirty or not, they will lunge for it, knocking things and people over just to have that penny, nickle or dime. It can be quite embarrassing when this mad dash occurs in public. They are not grasping the concept that all of our money is shared and that it doesn't matter who gets the coin or dollar. Nor are they grasping the fact that when this happens in public, people look at us with shock and pity in their eyes. Ok...maybe I am being dramatic. But you get the point.

And due to my 'lesson' on how to value money, I have created money hungry monsters. Recently when watching Spongebob Squarepants that featured the greedy Mr. Crab, Maura was watching with intensity. She then looked up from the television, pondered for about 2 seconds and then admitted, "Mom, I like money as much as Mr. Crab." GREAT.

So, when you see my kids' faces on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for working in cahoots with Bernie Madoff, you can blame me and my bright idea.

Look Ma, No Hands!

The recent legislation to ban hand held cell phones while operating a motor vehicle has got me thinking. I know...look out. Those who are lobbying heavily for this law to go into effect, must not spend much time behind the wheel when multiple children are in the car. Now this is pure speculation but my assumption is based on the fact that most legislators are men and I am thinking that these same men rarely shuttle little ones everywhere.

What does one have to do with the other? Well, if you are a parent of children and spend a good portion of your life in the car as I do, you recognize that there are times (more often than you care to admit) you don't have two hands on the wheel, much less one. Not only am I a wife and mother, I am a chauffeur, stewardess, tour guide, the cleaning crew and referee. And I could be ALL in just a short 10 minutes ride. Frightening.

Case-in-point: On my commute to the gym yesterday, my daughters must have asked me 20 questions in succession. I had little time to focus on anything else but answering them. Because if I didn't answer, their pitch would have gotten higher, the volume louder and the questions repeated 1 million times, or so it seems. (On a side note, I think my daughter may have a career as an auctioneer.) Then to throw in a little action, Maura started arguing with me on which way I should turn to get there. She wanted to change it up a bit and take a different route. SHE IS FOUR!

Then I had to calm the natives because their juice boxes were empty and they were DYING of thirst. Following that, my 2-year old dropped her baby and was shrieking until I reached behind the seat to get it for her. Super safe, I am sure. Maura somehow found a pen and was about to doodle on my leather car door. I slammed on the breaks to get her attention since she did not answer my repeated requests to hand me the pen. Slamming DID in fact work, by the way.

My 2-year old wanted the music louder so she could hear it. My 4-year old wanted their favorite song on (So What, by Pink - or as they lovingly call it - the Nanna song or the Rock Star song). My 2-year old wanted the pen that I took from the 4-year old. The 4-year old wanted the heat on because she was cold. "Or a blanket will do." Ummm...okay, your highness.

Needless to say, I could argue that this ride was much more dangerous than if I was on my cell phone. At least then I would have only had two things to concentrate on - the road and the call.