Can Garage Sales Teach Your Kids Negotiation Skills?
It’s better than a scavenger hunt and more entertaining than Saturday morning cartoons. Visiting garage sales can help you find big bargains and help your kids learn how to handle money.
Here are some tips for successful hunting from Sonia Weis, coauthor of Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Garage and Yard Sales (Penguin).
Before you go, tell the kids how to act. No running. Behave as guests in a person’s home. Be polite. If someone has their hands on an object, don’t look at it or say anything until the person puts it down.
Make a list of things they should be on the lookout for, either things that you want or things they want themselves.
Each child should have a set amount of money saved from an allowance or that you give them for the hunt. They will learn how to budget their funds and also get the knack of bargaining for a lower price. Tell them how.
Pass along these suggestions from Weis in order to help them become good shoppers.
- Test anything electrical to see if it actually does work.
- Take a few of your own batteries along so they can test toys and other battery-operated items.
- If you see something you like, pick it up and carry it around with you until you decide if you want it or not.
- When you go during the last hour of the sale, you have an opportunity to ask for a lower price, and sellers will be more willing to give it.
- If you go during the first hour of a sale, the best items will still be there. Check to see if all parts of a set or toy are included. Ask for the instructions.
Do You Know Your Kid’s Teacher?
Whar does it mean to teach? The dictionary defines the verb teach as:
• To impart, provide or instruct knowledge or skill
• To condition to a certain action or frame of mind
• To cause to learn by example or experience
• To advocate or preach
• To carry on instruction on a regular basis in
That last one, to carry on instruction on a regular basis, is a biggie…on a regular basis. On average teachers will spend 30 hours a week with your elementary age child. In contrast, let’s look at the amount of time you will spend, with your child during an average school week. Between getting up, dressed, fed and teeth brushed, on average, a parent will spend 10 minutes actually with the child.
Then there’s after school – it’s probably at least 5:00 pm before you really spend time with your child; either due to your schedule or your child’s. (Note: Seeing your child and spending time with – are not synonymous). Then maybe you spend some time together preparing and eating dinner. After school and after work you may have taken junior to practice or the store, or there was more homework.
If your child is like most, a bath or shower is probably needed. After that, perhaps a bedtime snack, a little TV and then it’s time to start the bedtime routine. It’s safe to say, on average, parents will spend less than eight (8) hours a week interacting with their elementary age child. Now do you see why it is vital to get to know your kid’s teachers?
Most schools have an Open House prior to the first day of school. This gives the parent and child a chance to meet the teacher and vice versa. Make every effort to attend this Open House. If you have a schedule conflict you cannot rearrange, make an appointment before or after school to meet your child’s teacher. It may only take a quick 10 minute visit initially, but don’t you want to know who will be imparting, providing and instructing knowledge and skills to your child?
Teachers will almost always provide phone numbers and emails where they can be reached. Nearly all of them will give you their home number. Use this contact information! Many parents think, “Oh I don’t want to bother the teacher by calling him/her.” Bother? Staying informed about what is happening with your child thirty hours each week should by no means be considered, “bothering the teacher.” Parents have a duty to know what is going on!
School Lunch Ideas
Hot lunch at school can become quite expensive. Figure on average, hot lunch costs $2.10 per day if you include milk with the meal. If you have three children, $6.30 a day, multiplied by five days, that’s $31.50 a week… just for lunch! Is it convenient for parents? You betcha. Can it be expensive? You betcha!
I’m going to give you some excellent money saving lunch ideas. It’s important to remember that you must not embarrass your children with the lunch you force them to take (egg salad sandwiches aren’t real popular in school). You need to come up with some fun, tasty meals that will make your child the envy of the lunch table. The object here is to save money and ensure your well thought-out lunch doesn’t end up at the bottom of the trash barrel.
I remember a day when it was cool to bring a thermos to school. Mine had My Little Ponies (the original ones) and my brother’s was Lost in Space. Kid’s thermoses are quite adorable, however a word of caution: they don’t keep hot foods as hot as the trusty metal and glass thermoses. Just be certain to preheat the thermos with boiling water, and then put the hot food directly into the thermos. Your hot food should stay warm until lunch time, four hours later.
Leftovers make great thermos food. Make sure you get a wide mouth, shorter thermos. You could fill it with soup, stew, mac and cheese, hamburger helper, chili, spaghetti and even hotdogs. Another idea is to fill the thermos with taco meat with the cheese already added. Then put a hard taco shell or a soft tortilla into the lunch bag and your bambino is ready for a fiesta!
Of course you could also serve cold lunches in the thermos. How about tuna salad, macaroni salad, or spaghetti salad? Or fill it with antipasto – variety of meats and cheeses. Don’t forget about celery and peanut butter or crackers and cheese. Roll-ups go over well, too. There are a couple different variations: Cream cheese spread on a slice of salami, with a sweet pickle inside; or instead of rolling up a slice of salami, roll up a tortilla that is stuffed with ham and shredded cheese.
Forget those pre-made lunches in a cardboard box. Forget the standard PBJ. Think out of the box. Economical can also be fun. Your child’s friends will try to trade their lunch for the fun meal you packed!
