Brilliant! It sure brought a happy tear to MY eye!

When, in early-1986, Disney executives decided to change the title of their upcoming animated feature from ‘Basil of Baker Street’ to the less ambiguous ‘The Great Mouse Detective’, its production team were less than pleased. One animator in particular, Ed Gombert, harnessed his displeasure to comical effect by creating, and circulating, the following: a fake memo purportedly from then-head of department, Peter Schneider, in which he announced the retroactive renaming of Disney’s entire back catalogue, bar The Aristocats, in a similarly bland style.

From “Letters of Note”

For those of you with kids who enjoy math, Katie Benedetto and her college class were challenged to write a poem to express the Quadratic equation. Naturally, she combined that with her long term desire to be the next Dr. Seuss and came up with this:

Every Why down in Whyville knows Whyville’s the best
For the town has a secret not shared with the rest
It’s a glorious place, it’s the best one around
For here, all the answers to questions are found

For the rest of her brilliant work, click here

To all our friends and members, we hope you have an outstanding day today!

Cheers to all!

Leslie and Harvey

My name is Mike. And, like many parents, I have a problem. Money. Not so much how to pay the bills this week or find the cash so that my daughter can go on her next school field trip. But, how to find the time, and the wisdom, to help my kids learn how to manage money before they hit the big cash events. First car. First job. University. Leaving home. And I worry that if I don’t get them cash smart that they will spend their adult lives buried in grown-up money problems: too much spending, too little saving, and not enough cash sense to share with their kids.

Canadian Task force on Financial Literacy says it’s not just me!

Not surprisingly to Active Allowance parents, I’m not alone with these worries. A few weeks ago the Canadian Taskforce on Financial Literacy, initiated by Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, issued a report called “Canadians And Their Money”. This report is the most comprehensive look at the financial problems Canadians of all ages are facing. It seems as if we’re not doing a very good job in managing our cash. According to the report almost half of us struggle with simple tasks involving math and numbers and almost a third of Canadians are struggling to pay their bills. If the adults are having a tough go of it then it is easy to understand why so many kids are leaving home unprepared to face the money management issues that inevitably come with growing up. And this isn’t just a Canadian problem – it’s a global issue.

Boomers placing a huge burden on their kids

The concern, of course, is not just with the economic problems of the past few years. A more startling problem faces all of us as the Baby Boomers (of whom I’m one) hit retirement age and start to put an increased strain on the Pension Plans, Medicare, and other social programs. The sense is that a large segment of Boomers are simply not financially ready for their senior years. And with Boomers accounting for almost one in three people in the US and Canada, this will put a big burden on our kids who will have to pay the bills. We can’t remove that burden. But we can help them become more financially literate before they leave home.

Tell us about your successes (or failures that have taught you a lesson)

Our family has been using Active Allowance for years. We think the founders, Harvey and Leslie Beck, have given us all a great tool. I’ve promised to try to help them make it even better by sharing what works and what does not work with my family through this blog. If you’re an Active Allowance member, perhaps you can kick in with some great ideas. If you’d like to contribute I’d love hearing from you. Until next time…..

Here’s an interesting Business Week interview of Neale Godfrey. Neale is a renowned expert on children and family finance and has written several books on the subject.

In this interview, she discusses raising money-smart kids and “Generation Broke” (you guessed it – our current generation!). We like Neale, both professionally and personally – I wonder if that’s because she preaches the same things we preach

Dan Gasteazoro, a Grade 4 teacher at Glacier Hills Elementary School in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been using Active Allowance in his classroom for the past two years. I asked him whether he found it useful in teaching his kids about financial literacy. Here are his comments:

I am incorporating your site to instill Financial Literacy in my classroom. But in addition, AA also offers me a forum to promote the social sciences (not just mathematics) – economics and political science – as well as foster teamwork, initiative and leadership skills.

Read the rest of this entry »

A great story most Mums and Dads can really appreciate. Have your kleenex ready

For most mothers, “it’s just what they do”!

If you enjoyed the Mom Song, here’s an entertaining response by Vanessa Van Petten, an enterprising 23 year old who has already:

• written a book on parenting from a teen’s perspective (“You’re Grounded“).
• Created the On Youth and Teens Today web site, a parenting guide for parents from a teen’s perspective. She’s also recruited many teens to help contribute articles on how they’d like to see parenting.
• Been featured as the Young Parenting Expert in the Wall Street Journal, the Santa Monica Daily Press, World Journal, and Atlanta Insite Magazine.
• Appeared on the Greg Mantell Show, Playboy Radio and numerous other radio and internet podcast shows.

Phew! This creative and industrious young lady is clearly going places!