Eat, Save, and Be Healthy

If you are like a lot of Americans, January is the worst month for you.  This is the time that all the credit card bills come in the mail for all the presents you bought in December.  The glow of the holidays has worn off, all the presents have been opened and used and the reality of the debt slaps you in the face.

The good news is- it doesn’t have to be this way!  You can start now to make a plan to remain free from holiday debt.  Remember that this is not just about you.  You are setting an example for your children and passing on your values about money.  What does it say to them if you buy more than you can afford and then spend all January and February worrying about how you will pay for it?  These are important tips for you, but they can also be important lessons to teach your children.  Help them, and you, have a stress free beginning to the new year!

1. Make a budget. Sit down now, in November, and think about how much you can afford to spend.  Keep in mind those last minute gifts for teachers, co-workers, or holiday parties.  Include even the little things in your budget.

2. Plan ahead. Planning includes your budget, but you can also make a list of the people you need to buy for and some ideas for presents.  This will give you a good way to map out your spending and go shopping with a plan! Be thoughtful about your gifts.  Is this toy something that my child will really play with enough to justify the cost?

3. Start saving early. Hopefully you have already been working on this, but if you haven’t, START SAVING NOW!  Use your budget to determine how much you will need to save from now until the holidays to be able to pay for the gifts you want to buy.

4. Be creative! Gifts do not always have to be things you buy from the store.  If you are crafty, consider giving something that you make.  Consider giving services or time– an hour of babysitting for your neighbor, or a special outing to your children.   Sometimes these thoughtful gifts can mean even more than something you pick up at the store.  This can also be a good gift idea for children to give.  Encourage them to think about services they can give rather than material gifts.

5. Everything in moderation. When we are buying gifts, especially for those we love, it is so easy to go overboard.  This is why it is important to think ahead of time of how much you have to spend and what you would like to give each person on your list.  If you go to the store with a plan you are much less likely to go overboard.

6. Shop Online. There are many websites that can help you compare prices on any item you are purchasing.  This allows you to “shop around” without having to do all the work.  Remember to include shipping when considering an online purchase as this cost can vary a lot from site to site (some sites include free shipping).

7. Use Cash. Cash is a powerful visual.  There is something that just feels different when you spend cash versus swiping a card.  This feeling can help you not overspend.  Also, if you go to the store with $100 cash to spend, it is impossible to spend more than $100.  This is another way to keep track of how much you are spending.  By using the cash that you saved for this purpose you will also save yourself from those credit card bills!

8. STICK TO YOUR PLAN.  This is the key to being debt-free.  Why invest all the time of making a plan if you do not have the discipline to stick to it!  It can be tough, but it will all be worth it when you get to January stress-free!

Finding time for family meals can be difficult, but is very important.  Make this a time to reconnect with family members and find out what is going on with them.  Eating together as a family has been proven to help reduce the chance that your child will get involved with drugs and alcohol.

As the new school year starts, it’s a good time to set some new routines.  Make family meals a part of your daily routine.

Make family meals simple and easy by planning ahead.  Use your crockpot for busy days, serving a fresh salad and fruit for side dishes.

Author:  Linnette Mizer Goard, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Ohio State University Extension.

What do you do when your teen brings home a “C” on a test or report card?  Do you feel pressure to make sure your child is in on the honor roll and in all the “right” classes?

Often times in parenting, especially through the teenage years, it is easy for parents to get overwhelmed by what is wrong and what is not going well, especially when it comes to school success.  However, in his new book, Strong Families, Successful Students: Helping Teenagers Develop Their Full Potential, Dr. Steve Gavazzi, an OSU family researcher and therapist, urges families to focus on their strengths.

When teens are criticized, they may tune out their parents and can begin to emotionally start to shut down. A perfect child or parent is impossible to find and there will always be faults to find if you are looking for them.  Gavazzi, in his research has found that it’s much more healthy and beneficial to focus on the positive aspects of your child and your family.   By emphasizing the things that your teen is good at, parents may begin to define success a little differently.

Families who focus on their strengths:

–Share a common ideology, including having a common understanding of what family success looks like

–Are patient and kind to each other and to others

–Look for unique strengths and talents in each family member

–Know how to solve problems together as a family

–Know how to find and use resources to help them

The author also wants to empower parents to become more confident about the role that they play in the lives of their teens.  He believes that parents are the best experts about their family and are best suited to understand what is going on in the family and make decisions based on that.  Again, he encourages the parent to focus on what is going right in the family and to play off those strengths.

Gavazzi points out that families function within the context of a larger environment.  For example, in an interaction, there is usually not clear cause-and-effect. Each interaction can be affected bymultiple factors including personality, environments such as school and culture, and friends or peers.  Therefore, the family cannot be viewed exclusively through the lens of what is happening in the home or in the classroom, rather it can be more helpful to look at the whole system.

This perspective is especially important when thinking about school success, which is the main focus of this book.  The author has found in is studies that if a teen is not doing well in school, there are usually many factors that are leading to this.  This is why, in a book about school success there is so much emphasis on the family and family functioning.

The book is written based on years of research that Gavazzi and his team have been doing on a project called, “Growing up FAST”, a youth delinquency program.  However, the book is not targeted towards other researchers.  The author combines stories and advice based on his research to reach out to the many families that are struggling to help their children succeed in school.

The teen years are important times of growth and development.  Doing well in school is one aspect of growth that can help your child move toward success as an adult.  By focusing on what your child is talented at, the positive aspects, you can help shed light on how to improve those things that may be more difficult for your child.

To learn more about Dr. Gavazzi and his work, you can check out his new book, Strong Families, Successful Students: Helping Teenagers Develop Their Full Potential, or you can an interview with him, discussing his book on YouTube at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H40sFp0hBxM .

Dr. Gavazzi also writes a blog for the Columbus Parent Magazine called, “Strong Families, Successful Teens” http://blog.dispatch.com/successfulteens/ where he covers many helpful topics on parenting teens.