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"I&amp;#039;ve been focusing really hard lately on not letting the kids (Anna, really) know just how financially tight we are. It seems like it puts too much stress on her. The car made a weird noise the other day and she started getting very upset, worried that the car would break down and wondering how we could afford it if it did. I realized then that she was hearing way too much from me on the subject of money. It&amp;#039;s not her issue to deal with, and I need to stop making it one when she&amp;#039;s in earshot. So it was another holy-cow-are-we-ever-broke weekend, but somehow, we found ways to make it fun. Luckily, it snowed, so we had entertainment right outside. On Saturday, we grabbed the sleds and headed to a local park where we whoosed and skidded and slid and laughed for a good long time. Then, I had to make a quick trip to the grocery store for bread, and Anna wanted to go shopping at one of her favorite stores \u2013 one that sets me back $30-$50 every time we go there. Instead of telling her we couldn&amp;#039;t afford it, I suggested the dollar store next to the grocery store, reminding her that her money (which is my money after hers runs out) would go further there. She had a blast, and spent exactly $5 without borrowing a dime from me. David even found a toy he wanted. On Sunday we had more sledding followed by the declaration that it was &amp;quot;fuzzy jammy day&amp;quot;. We all got into our fuzzy, footed jammies, threw in a movie, popped popcorn and it was great. We rounded out the evening by inflating a bazillion tiny balloons (leftover water balloons from the summer) and stuffing them into a pop-up laundry hamper. Just because. When I put them to bed last night, I was proud of myself. She had no idea that the mortgage was late, the electric bill is overdue, my credit card is maxxed, payday is a week away and I hope I&amp;#039;ll have enough gas in the car to make it till then. It made me realize that I have plenty of time when they&amp;#039;re not around to worry about all that stuff. What&amp;#039;s the saying\u2026.&amp;quot;We may not have much, but together we have it all.&amp;quot; Should kids know how bad your finances are? I try to make sure Anna realizes that we have a different standard of living now, but I don&amp;#039;t think she needs to know how precarious it is sometimes. She&amp;#039;s got enough to deal with. What do you think? Am I being kind, or being unrealistic with her? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a45772/no-money-no-worries-934/>