The Cereal Box Secret

Don´t spend so much money on cereal for your children just because they want the name-brand, more expensive stuff. Instead, keep the boxes from the expensive cereals, and start filling them with store-brand cereal. As long as the box looks right, your kids probably won´t be able to tell the difference.

Teaching Kids Monetary Values

Establish an "I Want" List. Write down the name of every toy your child asks for. Put next to that a green x for every dollar the toy costs. You will be creating a bar graph for your child to see how many more or fewer dollars one item is than another.

Help Your Tot Hold Cups

Wrap a few rubber bands around a glass to keep it from slipping out of your child´s hands. If you have more than one child, use different colored bands to designate whose glass is whose.

No Virginia, There is No Money Store

According to this article, some children think that there is a "money store". Here are some ideas on how to help children better understand money and how it works. http://www.pioneerthinking.com/rwmoneystore.html

Car Seat Installation

Call (877) FIT-4-A-KID for to find a facility or certified car seat installer near you. They will help you install your car seat correctly, no matter what kind of car or car seat you have.

Scribbles Kids Art Site

At Scribbles Kids Art Site, kids can enter art contests, win art supplies, or do online activities. Learning art is fun with free programs that you can download at http://www.scribbleskidsart.com.

Seasonal Sales

The best way to get brand new clothes for children, at a reasonable price, is to shop for items at the end of the season. If you do this, think about how fast your child is, or will be, growing and get sizes for your child that will fit next year.

Allowance Idea

Give your kids an allowance using single bills. Counting out the dollars when they pay for an item will teach them the value of money, and will make them seriously consider their purchase.

How to Teach Children the Value of Money

This article is about how you can teach your children about the value of money. http://www.pioneerthinking.com/chmoney.html

Make-Your-Own Write n´ Wipe Boards

Don´t buy expensive write and wipe workbooks for your kids - make your own. Simply print out or cut apart the pages of a workbook and cover with clear contact paper. You can now write and wipe with crayons, dry erase markers, china markers or grease pencils.

Start a Child Care Exchange

Exchange sitting favors with friends. Have your friends take your children to their house while you stay home and cook a romantic dinner, go to the movies, or enjoy other couple-time activities with your spouse. Then when your friends want to go out, you will watch their children.

Set Up a Toy Workshop

Ask your kids to gather up all of the toys they no longer want (if they insist on keeping everything, you may remind them that they will be getting new toys for Christmas and therefore need to make space for them). Spend an afternoon with them playing elf and fixing up the toys. Clean off the grimy plastic pieces, brush the doll´s hair, re-attach or glue broken pieces if possible, etc. When you are finished, donate the toys to a local charity for needy children.

Never Hear "Are We There Yet?" Again

When you are going on a long trip and want to amuse your children, don´t tell them where you´re going. Tell them what to bring and how to dress, but not where you are going. On the way there, your children will ask questions to try to guess the destination. Maybe even offer a prize for the person who guesses correctly.

Have a Group Birthday Party

These days, kids want huge birthday parties with tons of guests, but that is not very affordable. So get a group of kids (neighbors, friends, family, etc.) and have a big group party. This way everyone involved is helping put it together, helping to decorate and helping to buy different activities for the kids (face painting, moonwalks, dunking booth, etc.). Make sure that you explain this to the kids in detail so that they understand. You might want to mention that you´ll still have a birthday party on their birthday, but it will only be the immediate family, and they´ll still get a gift, cake and ice cream!

About Child Parenting

Go to www.childparenting.about.com to learn which books encourage reading, and many other helpful bits of information.

Re-Using Workbooks

Take the workbooks apart and put the pages in top-loading sheet protectors. The children write on them with dry erase markers, write & wipe crayons or china markers. They are then filed away for the next child.

Get a Boo Boo Doll

Keep a small plastic doll in your freezer and use it as ice for your child´s bumps and bruises. She´ll like it better than an ice bag.