A Freshly Minted New Year

Want to know what we learned from watching this film with our kids? Here are our buttery bits of wisdom:

• Paper Moon is an important film and worth showing kids over ten. That being said, the story contains a raft of controversial topics including the basic fact that Addie and Moze survive by conning people, often recent widows. Humor in the relationship between Ryan and Tatum O'Neal soften the blow, but be prepared for these topics: Addie doesn't know who her father is; Moze picks up a prostitute; Addie smokes; Addie and Moze's final scam involves stealing a bootlegger's whiskey and selling it back to him.
  
• The story takes place during the Depression, lending an easy chance to discuss the financial hard times of our country and the ways people survived. Our kids were fascinated with stories of their own relatives at this time. If your kids are intrigued, show them Seabiscuit (click here for our review in the KOTC archives).
  
• Ryan and Tatum O'Neal are father and daughter in real life. Will Smith and his son play father and son in the current box office hit The Pursuit of Happyness.
  
• COOL FACT: Tatum O'Neal won an Oscar for her performance of Addie, the youngest person to ever receive that honor.
  

Want to know how to talk to your kids about this film? Here are some conversation starters:

• Addie keeps asking Moze if he is her father. Ask the kids what they think, and if they can give a few details to support their opinion.
• One of the wonderful aspects of this story is that so many things remain unsaid between Addie and Moze. See if the kids can list a few things that are crystal clear between the two, but that are never said out loud.
• COOL FACT: Director Peter Bogdanovich is a passionate student of cinema. If you get a chance to hear him lecture, you'll enjoy his gift for storytelling.
  

Want to know how to teach your family money values? Click here for a few buttery bits of wisdom from Kids Off The Couch's financial experts Eileen Gallo, PH.D and Jon Gallo, J.D.:

• Allowances: Allowances teach kids how to manage money because they have to make choices and think about alternatives. We recommend that parents keep track of their children's discretionary expenses for a few weeks. Discretionary purchases are those that parents deem to be totally a child's decision. iPod downloads may be discretionary, but a pre-soccer snack probably is not. (Our website, www.fiparent.com has a free, downloadable calculator to track spending). Then, choose an expense to shift to your child and add $1.00 per week (see below for why we suggest adding $1.00). It becomes a child's choice as to whether he spends his money on music, saves it up to buy fancier basketball sneakers than you would otherwise purchase, or puts it in a bank account.
• The Extra Dollar: Kids need to learn both to save and to share their money with those less fortunate and adding an extra dollar to their weekly allowance helps children towards those goals. Fifty cents is for saving, and the other fifty cents for charity. Make this concrete by paying your child a mixture of dollar bills and quarters. Have three containers labeled "spend," "save," and "give." Put the quarters in the "save" and "give" containers. We have a four chambered piggy bank on our website that was developed by Susan Beacham, who also created www.moneysavvygeneration.com. We like transparent pigs; the kids can see the money building up inside.
• When to Start: Start giving your kids an allowance when they get interested in money. This is usually about ages five or six. Give it to them consistently every week.
  
• Family Chores: Family chores help kids develop a work ethic. This is the sense that what they are doing is important and that they are personally responsible for what they accomplish (or fail to accomplish). A sixty-year Harvard study -- probably the most important sociological study, of which most parents have never heard -- discovered that developing a work ethic between the ages of 6 and 12 is the single biggest predictor of adult mental health. We do not, however, believe that chores should be linked to allowance. Here's why: Kids who don't do their chores aren't being responsible members of the family, but they aren't abusing their allowance. There need to be consequences, but we don't suggest docking their allowance. If you use money to control your kids when they are little, you are likely to raise adults who are going to be controlled by money. Instead, think about putting a beloved toy away or unplugging their computer if your kids don't accomplish their chores.
  
• Extra Chores: Kids should have the opportunity to make extra money by doing extra chores, like raking leaves, washing the car or dog, and organizing a cluttered area like a basement or garage. Don't overpay for the job, however -- you'll set an unrealistic expectation for manual labor and that isn't doing them any favors!
  

Want to know more about teaching fiscal responsibility? Here are some further tips:

• Kids WANT to learn how to function in the adult world of money and choices: Use your child's interest in money to teach them your own values. Speak openly about your financial choices (including your mistakes) in order to demystify the overall topic of money.
  
• You can help your children to make good choices: We all have differing money personalities - some of us scrimp and others save. You can help your kids recognize and manage their own tendencies.  Start by reading an excerpt from our chapter about helping children make sound financial choices.
  

Here's what you can do with your kids at various age levels: 

• Pre-K-K - Little kids should learn to recognize coins, and understanding the value of each, since these basic skills help iwith math readiness.
• 1st-3rd Grades -Time to begin allowance program and establish a savings account, or start. Kids can save money in piggy bank - try to encourage at least 10% of weekly draw. Start conversations about money by comparison shopping at the grocery store.
• 4th-5th Grades - Kids should be able to use their own money for discretionary purchases. Most schools introduce some type of banking topic. Kids can decide if they want to give to a charity, or lend their time to help a cause.
  
• 6th-8th Grades - Allowance, or a monthly stipend, to be used for everything outside boundaries of what mom and dad think is necessary. Have a family meeting to determine what that amount will be, and how it will be distributed. Cell phone bills are a great teaching (and negotiating) tool. Let them make mistakes - not having money to go to the mall with friends teaches a great deal.

Here are some cool sites we found while doing our research:

• http://www.fiparent.com/fip_moneybehaviors.php Our financial experts, Eileen and Jon Gallo, created this wonderful site to help parents set allowances, track chores and encourage a work ethic. 
• http://www.msgen.com/prod/assembled/home.html A big, information-rich site that will help explore this topic further.
• http://www.younginvestor.com/ is a site run by a money management company with information for teens and tweens about investing and the stock market. Includes games and a section for parents.