Kids are expensive, there’s no doubt. Food, clothing, entertainment, education… it all adds up.

If you take some time to talk with them, they can also help you save money. That’s helpful at any point.

In my experience, children are very sweet about things when you talk to them about why you want to save money. My daughter at age 5 offered to start a lemonade stand when we explained about money being tight. She just really wanted to help.

The first thing you want to give your children is a reason to help you save money. You may choose to share with them a portion of what is saved. You could set a savings goal for a family vacation. You just need to figure out what will motivate them and you.

Have a family meeting to start discussing options. You want to get everyone on board with the general concepts. You probably won’t come up with every possible idea for saving money right away, but you can get the thought processes moving.

One of the great things about talking things out with kids is that sometimes they are very willing to make sacrifices. They can really surprise you, even at a young age.

Some things they should help you with will be obvious. If keeping extra lights turned off is an issue, come up with a reward system for that. It doesn’t have to be significant, perhaps just a mark on a chart that will eventually lead to something.

You may be able to compete with each other a bit too. You can each pick a habit that’s wasting a bit of money, and see who does the best at beating it. You should be sure the competition stays lighthearted, and keep encouraging your children so that there’s a good chance that they could win. Your purpose here, after all, is two fold. You want to save money but you also want your children to get a good lesson.

Another good area to explore with your children is snacking. Could they go from a more expensive snack to a cheaper and possibly healthier one? It can be done. Things like fruit snacks really aren’t that cheap.

This should lead to your kids helping you shop for bargains in the grocery store. Have them help you with the ads, figuring out which stores to visit and what to buy. Maybe even have them help with some menu planning.

Another big expense for many families comes from video games. You may want to consider renting video games rather than buying them, or talking with other families in your area about trades. Your children will probably know which of their friends have the same system and might be open for trades. Setting up workable rules can be a challenge but also a good lesson. But if things are tight enough, new games may simply have to be given up on.

Your family can probably come up with a lot more ideas to save some money. You can figure out what kind of rewards for saving money makes sense for your family, and really get everyone motivated. It’s really wonderful to be able to get some control over some of the expenses associated with raising a family.

When I got my copy of Please Don’t Label My Child, I figured it for a fairly interesting read. While no one professional has tried to tell me either of my kids might have Attention Deficit Disorder or something like it, my inlaws have raised the possibility. I don’t consider it a possibility myself. She’s not the most focused child, but she’s also just 5. I think she just needs time to figure out how to behave at school.

But the more of it I read, the more interested I got. The author included a lot of individual examples where children who others considered to be ADHD or to have other emotional health problems were helped without medications. Should I ever face that kind of thing with my own kids, that’s exactly how I’d want to handle it too.

It’s horrifying when you read about how many kids are being given medications for various behavioral issues. This is an issue that people have been aware of for years, yet too many are willing to just follow a doctor’s advice and use the medications. It’s easier, after all, even though some medications have serious potential side effects. I found this article on it from 2004, in which the spending on behavior modifying drugs had outpaced spending on antibiotics and asthma medications.

That’s just depressing to me.

Please Don’t Label My Child gives some wonderful tips on what else can be done. Consider the circumstances, for example. Of course a child will misbehave if there are current or past problems in his or her life that are not being properly addressed.

Probably my favorite section was on bullying. My daughter had to deal with a classmate who she found rather challenging. She has an active fantasy life while he takes everything seriously and wanted her to do likewise. Just a few words from him and she’d just droop.

Not quite bullying, in my mind, or at least I don’t feel he meant it that way, but it certainly had an impact on her until she learned how to cope with it. This book did help me to think on her reactions to it and how to help her a little.

If you’re a parent, I do very much so recommend this book. You may never face the situation of having someone recommend one of these medications for your child, but why not be prepared for it, in case? You’ll find the insights in general quite interesting.

We’ve been having some rainy weather here lately, and I can see how cooped up the kids are feeling. I’ve let them play outside some, but it takes their shoes a long time to dry from all the water and mud. Especially the mud.

When the weather turns cold, keeping the kids busy gets more challenging. They can’t just play outside all day in a lot of cases, and often simply don’t want to. It’s enough to wear any parent down.

Sometimes doing this on a budget can be challenging as well. As a stay at home mom, I don’t have that much of a budget for entertaining the kids, even though I would love to be able to enroll them in all the activities they would enjoy. My daughter very much so wants dance and acting classes, for example, but those aren’t in the budget.

Doing these things informally at home is quite possible. She won’t be learning the techniques that a class would teach her, but her creativity is being strongly encouraged.

Puppet shows are a fairly regular feature in our home. A sheet tossed over the footboard posts makes her preferred theater.

Cardboard boxes are the classic, of course. It may take a few tries, but you can get double thickness ones from Home Depot for free. Just go in shortly before closing and talk to a manager about having the night crew save one for you. With any luck, it will indeed be there in the morning. Appliance boxes also work well if you happen to note a delivery in your area.

Heading out to the library is another great option. Not only do most have story time for younger children, but you can check out books with more craft ideas.

A good supply of craft supplies is essential. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but markers, crayons, paints, paper bags, popsicle sticks, paper plates, glue and so forth leave a lot of room for creativity.

A treasure hunt can also be a lot of fun. It also helps kids learn how to look for things. Show them what you’re going to hide, and leave a series of clues for them to follow.

Don’t forget the chores. Even 2 year olds can help out a little. Sometimes their help is more of a hindrance when they’re young, but it makes them very happy. Even if you do have to sweep the floor over again at nap time.

Go through old photo albums or do a slide show of the pictures on your computer. We use our digital pictures for a screen saver on our computers, which means we get to see them regularly, and the kids love watching them and asking questions.

It’s easy for boredom to strike during cold weather. Fortunately it’s also not that hard to come up with ideas to entertain younger children. Get creative and have fun together!