The Marble Jar Channel

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today we are talking about giving an allowance to kids.  This is the last of a 3 part series.  Part 1 went over the allowance basics.  Part 2 covered how to do it with a minimum of fuss.  In this last one, we'll give some tips for teenagers and allowance.  My kids are both youngish teenagers now (15 & 13) and the issues we have now are different from the ones we used to have -- in every way -- allowance is, of course, no different. I'm figuring this out as I go, but I'll share some of the things I've decided on -- for now at least: Dining  - This has been a little tricky. My kids as middle schoolers have liked to walk to Chipotle after school with a bunch of kids. This gets pricey and is not within their means if you figure a $10+ burrito 4 times per month.  The problem is that I do feel obligated to feed them, so I agreed to pay for half of meals.  It used t...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today we are talking about giving an allowance to kids.  This is Part 2 of a 3 part series.  Part 1 went over the basics.  In this 2nd one, we'll talk about how to administer an allowance with a minimum of fuss (I use the iAllowance app) and in Part 3 we'll discuss some tips for youngish teenagers and allowance.  My kids were little when we started this process -- they were both 5. They are now 13 and 15 and they are still getting an allowance.  In fact, it is more important than ever.  Again, I think you can start at any time -- it's never too late. I went through several methods before I landed on the one that has worked best for us. Let's go through them quickly. Cash Weekly -  At 5, their abstract thinking was not very developed, so I decided to give them physical dollar bills. I only gave them Spend money -- I kept track of Save and Charity balances for them. I used ...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today I'm going to discuss giving an allowance to kids.  I'm doing this in 3 parts.  This one will walk through the basics and answer some general questions.  The second will tackle how to make it happen with a minimum of fuss (I now use iAllowance) and the third will discuss some tips for giving allowance to teenagers.  Growing up, my parents were frugal in the extreme. We did our own repairs, didn't buy new clothes until I was well into high school, cut our own hair, grew our own food, etc. You get the picture. If you guessed that they were also not great about giving a reasonable allowance, you would be correct. They gave me a 25 cents a month -- even in those days, there was not much you could buy with that.  I was determined to do better with my kids. Not so that they could have more stuff (although that would certainly be an adverse side effect), but because I view money mana...

Hi, everybody!  I'm Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel. In this video, I'm going to tell you why I chose the name Marble Jar for my YouTube channel and blog. If you've seen my channel trailer, you'll know that my primary interest is in parenting in a world of constant internet access and using technology to help. But I also have a bunch of other curiosities and wanted to create a blog or channel that wasn't super limited and also reflected some things that I felt were important.  I decided to name my blog Marble Jar and today I'm going to share the 4 reasons I picked that name.  Visual -  The first and most obvious reason is that it is super visual. In other words, when I say Marble Jar, it is almost impossible for you to not generate an image of jar of colorful marbles in your mind. That visualization makes it easy to remember and, because marbles are usually multicolored, it's a fun, vibrant image to carry around in your head. Plus it'...

Hi, everyone!  I'm Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today we are going to going to talk about the discussion you should be having with your teenaged boys about Noodz - the term for racy photos on the Internet.  Listen up, parents of middle school and high school boys!  You HAVE to have this talk with your kids. If you've already done it -- good job!  If not, let's talk through some of the points you should make.  First of all, let's just acknowledge that this is happening. Boys are asking for Noodz and girls are sending them. I know you'll be shocked to hear that the reverse is rarely true. The term Noodz or just nudes covers a range of photos that includes actual nudes to just compromising ones with more skin showing than usual.   Originally I had combined girls and boys in one post and then I realized that I had way too much to say, so I split them into 2 separate posts. There might be a little repetition for those of you who have o...

Hi, everyone!  I'm Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today we are going to going to talk about the discussion you should be having with your teen girls about Noodz - or sending racy photos on the Internet.  Listen up, parents of middle school and high school girls!  You HAVE to have this talk with your kids. If you've already done it -- good job!  If not, let's talk through some of the points you should make.  First of all, let's just acknowledge that this is happening. Boys are asking for Noodz and girls are sending them. I know you'll be shocked to hear that the reverse is rarely true. The term Noodz or just Nudes covers a range of photos that includes actual nudes to just compromising ones with more skin showing than usual.   There are 2 things I'd like to change about how these conversations usually happen. First of all, we tend to have these conversations AFTER something has happened. That's okay -- that conversation is important t...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and today I'm going to share my technology solution for the Internet issues we face in my house with 2 teenagers.  There are really two issues that I wanted to address.  The first is that now that my kids are a little older, I needed to /filter out adult content/.  Even if they weren't actively searching for porn, it was way too easy to stumble on inappropriate stuff on the Internet. The second issue is that, like many teens, my kids were becoming entirely /too dependent on screen time/.  They were ALWAYS on their phones.  I felt like they were missing out on things that happen organically when you aren't being entertained constantly: conversation, creativity, and just smelling the roses to name a few.  Okay -- so that should be pretty easy, right?  Just 2 things to control and there were plenty of products available that did exactly what I wanted. But hold up -- whatever s...