Archive for October, 2009

It used to happen all the time – kids actually walked to school. Most of our parents have exciting stories about trudging through snow or rain for miles to get to school on time. (My dad keeps trying to convince me he walked through snow but he grew up in Savannah. I’m not buying it.)

Well, today is the official U.S. Walk To School Day. The whole month of October is celebrated internationally as Walk to School Month, and the idea is to promote the health and environmental benefits of walking and bicycling.

As much as I support the idea of walking to school, at present my kids don’t have a sidewalk all the way from our house to the school. We have a sidewalk for half of the mile walk. Or if you go the long way, we have sidewalks for a three-mile walk but I think that seems a bit far for a kid to carry a book bag. (And what I mean by that  is that would be a bit far for mom to carry two book bags. I’ll happily walk three miles sans books bags.)

My neighbor and I debated …

Continue reading It’s National Walk To School Day: Is your kid walking? »

Was Jon wrong to raid his and Kate's joint account?

The Jon and Kate saga continues with Jon allegedly pulling $230,000 from the couple’s joint account leaving Kate only $1,000.

Kate claims she has a stack of family bills that the money was supposed to cover and now she can’t pay them. (Here’s a link to an overview story. Here’s a link to Kate’s side of it. Here’s a link to Jon’s side of it.)

Is it a dirty trick or should it be expected that one spouse is going to raid the joint bank account when getting divorced?

I called Atlanta attorney Melody Richardson of Pachman Richardson, LLC, to find out if:

1. Raiding the bank account is common in every day divorces.
2. How you can protect yourself and your money if you are getting divorced.

Richardson, whose practice is limited to family law, says in Georgia joint accounts are NOT automatically frozen when you file for divorce so theoretically your spouse could wipe it out to zero.

However, she adds it hardly ever happens because …

Continue reading Jon raids Kate’s joint account; how to protect your accounts »

Our friend, Lisa Flam, was surprised and saddened when her 4th-grade son didn’t want her bus stop kiss good-bye!

An Associated Press reporter, she ended up using the experience for a great story about what it means when kids diss your kiss!

Here’s some excerpts from her story:

“We were only two weeks into the school year when my son hopped up the school bus steps one morning before I could kiss him goodbye.”

“I called his name, and my not-so-little-anymore fourth-grader turned to give me that knowing look, fully aware that we had skipped the morning ritual.”

“So after trudging back into a quiet house, I did what any mom in the modern age would do: I updated my online status to say the missed kiss had gotten me down. Within minutes, I was comforted to know I was not alone.”

She also found experts who could comfort her:

“My instincts were right. The shunning of parental PDAs usually happens sometime in grade school, when kids’ social scenes are expanding. …

Continue reading When is a kid too old for Mom PDA? »

Gwinnett County parents learn Friday if their kids are among the 9,000 students who will be redistricted next fall as the county draws new school boundaries. (Here’s the map.)

Redistricting is not a new thing in Gwinnett. I grew up in Gwinnett during the ’80s when it was expanding rapidly. My best friend in elementary school was redistricted away to the new elementary school. I was so sad to lose her and didn’t see her again until three years later in middle school.

The county literally looked at the major street outside my parent’s neighborhood and said houses on the right side of the street go to X and houses on the left go to Y. It was very sad to see our friends go.

But clearly my husband has it worse. He spent his elementary years in Augusta when it was growing rapidly.

He was redistricted FOUR TIMES in FOUR YEARS. I’m not kidding.

My husband’s dad was in the Army so they moved all the time anyway. He didn’t think it was a big deal that he went to four …

Continue reading Being redistricted? How to help kids cope? »