Investing in Kids

If you have a new baby in the house, sleep very soon becomes a luxury. No matter how well your baby snoozes, your own often-interrupted sleep can begin to take a toll. Add in the fact that many babies have trouble sleeping or napping, and you have a recipe for two very tired parents. Thankfully, catching some zzz's is possible before year 18 rolls around. Let's take a look at some tried and true sleep training ideas from the trenches of motherhood.

Intro to Sleep Training

Cake baking can get boring. There are usually only a few options for the actual baking: making a traditional cake, whipping up some cupcakes or baking an everyday cake batter in a cake mold. Beyond that, creativity in the cake world has been assigned to the decorating…until now.

Okay, I admit it. I loved The Hunger Games (book version). And I simply could hardly wait to see how they translated all the action and characters onto the big screen. So finally the other night, my hubby and I left our girls with a dear friend and headed out to check out the adventures of Katniss and Peeta at our local theater.

I've never been a big fruit fan, even as a child. I'll never know why. Fruit is just one of those things that I have to force myself to fit into my diet. Veggies? No issues. In fact, even as a kid, I loved big salads. Loved 'em. My favorite place to eat was Bonanza (do you remember those?!) because I could pick all of the toppings that I wanted off the salad bar, eat my veggies, then go back for more. Yes: I. Was. Strange.

We here at MomVesting are always looking for new angles on the "investing in..." theme and are pleased to take yet another path on the "investing in family" trail. Books, movies and music are a part of our life and our family's lives, and we'll take a look at some of the offerings on the shelves, screens and iPods out there to help you make an informed choice about whether said media is right for your family.

I got a Kindle for Christmas from my loving hubby, and I love it. I especially love the large selection of freebie ebooks out there (even if some of them could use some a bit more help in the editing and proofreading departments). Anyway, a couple of these free reads had a theme in them that caught my attention: workaholic dads/husbands. While this was not the main crux of the stories (one was the start of a zombie series and the other was a ghost story of sorts), the idea of the dad and/or husband working so much he barely knew his kids or had time to spend with his wife was there.

As we continue to discuss ways to teach kids about money, we come to the task of introducing kids to the world of business. And particularly to cultivating their own businesses. Since business management can teach children about working together as a team, giving direction, going on sales calls and managing money, developing entrepreneurial skill sets is almost integral to life. And it's really not as difficult as it may seem at first glance. Let's look at some business ideas that can help give your kids an edge.

Lemonade Stand

February has a way of turning our thoughts to romance and dates and the like. While it's wonderful to spend time one-on-one with your siginifcant other, if you're a parent, there's someone else in your life who could benefit from some alone time with you: your kiddos.