Do I get some say in what the allowance is spent on?

"What if my kid wants to spend his allowance on fireworks or a pellet gun?" you may be thinking. Don't worry – allowances can come with some oversight. But instead of making a list of banned items, Leatherman suggests setting up general guidelines like, "You can spend your allowance however you like, as long as it doesn't cause a problem." This gives you plenty of wiggle room. If your 6-year-old wants to buy a week's supply of cavity-causing sugar bunnies, simply cite the "cause a problem" clause.

Are you discussing abstinence and safe sex with your child? I use the term child instead of teen because kids are having sex at such early ages. While talking about sex with your child may seem scary, what is even more scary is your child contracting an STD or becoming pregnant.

The teen pregnancy rate has increased by 4% since 1990. Nearly half (46%) of all 15-19 year-olds in the U.S. have had sex at least once

In a letter to the editor in the April 9 New England Journal of Medicine, two experts wrote that PTU can cause severe liver disease in children and should no longer be used as a first-line treatment for children with Graves’ disease, a disorder in which the thyroid gland produces more thyroid hormone than the body needs.

read more