Search Results for: blog the only thing kids and sports

4 Ways to Deal with the High Cost of Kids Sports and Activities

Today, it is not surprising to hear that parents are spending anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 a year per child on sports, dance or other activities. In some cases, that amount can be even higher, when there are several children in the family and each are taking several activities at a time. According to financial guru Dave Ramsey, “some parents can spend up to $10,000 a year funding their child’s athletic pursuits.” Why is the cost so high these days? First of all there is equipment that parents much purchase, everything from figure skates or hockey skates, to baseball equipment … Continue reading →

Getting Hand Me Down Children’s Clothing for Free

Used items can make a difference between having something and not having it or being financially secure versus being greatly in debt. When those used items are hand me downs that you get for free, your financial outlook gets even better. Some of my favorite types of hand me downs are baby and children’s clothing. Because children grow so fast, the clothing is often in great condition and style. Plus, outfitting a kid by buying new can get expensive rather quickly. Times that by the number of kids you have, and things can quickly add up. There are a couple … Continue reading →

Sports And Family Bonds

With the Super Bowl just a couple of weeks away, now is a good time to think about sports and how they relate to family history. Whether you have athletes in the family, sports fans, or both, it is very likely that at least some family members have an interest in sports. If you think about your relatives and what sports they like to play or watch, you may see some similarities between family members. You might also see some major differences of opinion, which can make for memorable family events if there is a game on television featuring the … Continue reading →

Juggling Your Kids Activities

The kids are going back to school and now the juggling act begins. I know as a single mother making sure Hailey was able to get to all the places she needed to go while still working full time was a challenge. I have no idea how single mothers with multiple children manage to do it, but not only do they do it, they make it look easy. Once school starts so do the activities, sports, dance, after school activities, going to a friend’s house to do a project, it seems that every day there is somewhere new they need … Continue reading →

Great Deals on Video Games – This Weekend Only!

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This weekend is a great time to buy some video games for the gamer in your life. There are special deals going on that will only be around for a couple of days. I doubt it is a mere coincidence that this weekend also happens to be the one that Father’s Day falls on. Video games seem to be something that you either love to play, or that you just don’t understand the appeal of. Historically, men tend to spend more time playing video games than women do, and they also tend to play a wider variety of games. This … Continue reading →

Fitness and Video Games

Nintendo Wii is now being endorsed by the American Heart Association. Who would have ever thought that video game systems could go to this level? For some time I have been hearing about how great Wii Fit is. We own a Wii system and have a few games but I wasn’t ready to invest in something that I didn’t feel very sure about. A few days ago I ordered Wii Fit Plus and not only am I excited about it but so are my kids. What finally sold me is watching a good friend of mine lose weight by changing … Continue reading →

Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley’s Bundle of Joy

With apologies to our fearless Popular Culture bloggers, I must admit that I am usually woefully ignorant of TV and music personalities. Nor am I usually a reader of People magazine. I just had to purchase the October 5 issue, however, when I saw the cover featuring actress Katherine Heigl and her musician husband, Josh Kelley, with their ten-month-old daughter Naleigh, newly arrived from Korea. I’m so out of the TV scene that it took me several paragraphs to realize that Katherine Heigl wasn’t Kate Hudson, but her story sounded very familiar to me. Although the cover teaser talks about … Continue reading →

Stress and Teens

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Teenagers are under a lot of stress. I’m more than a decade out of my teens and can still remember worrying about grades, going off to college, choosing a major, keeping in touch with my friends, leaving home, and a hundred other things. Kids and adults share a lot of the same sources of stress — moving, the death of a family member, family financial problems, dealing with peers. But teens also have some unique sources of stress, including: Changes in their bodies The transition between childhood and adulthood Overloading on extra-curricular activities Figuring out what comes after high school … Continue reading →

Do you let your kids drive with friends?

When I was a teenager in the 9th grade, a car full of neighbor kids were in a terrible accident. The group was going into The Bronx from Yonkers NY to treat the birthday girl to White Castle hamburgers. She had just turned 13 years old. She never made it home. A truck jackknifed in front to them, and several of them died instantly. Others were injured. Our community lost a 13 year old girl, a 15 year old boy (my classmate’s brother), and the 18 year old driver. An 18 year old passenger lost his arm (that he had … Continue reading →

Finding Inexpensive Clothes for Slightly Older Kids

From the time we decided that I would leave my full time job and stay home with our first child, I have been practicing ways to save money. But now that our first child is nearly eight years old, there has been one area that has become more difficult: finding good quality clothing for him and cheap or free prices. One of the biggest reductions in costs for us was baby clothes. There is a wealth of great quality and great looking used clothes that could be had at thrift stores, yard sales and from generous friends. It was very … Continue reading →