New Decade, New Year, New Day.

So I was one of the Kris Allen over Lambert folks on American Idol. I really thought that Kris could sing well, and looked forward to his take on each song each week. My favorite was his cover of Kanye's Heartless.
Then Kris Allen's album came out and his first release is Live like we're dying.

Am I the only one noticing a trend? Live like we're dying, Nickelback's got a song out, Never gonna be alone, and other's have lyrics about living in the moment.
I agree that it's important to tell those you love that you love them, and tell them often.
I also think that we must also "save our pennies for a rainy day". Teach our children to save for things that they want, pay cash, look towards the future, more than just looking forward to the next holiday or birthday. You never know what's going to happen, you may die today so live life with no regret, but you may live till 100. You can't rely on someone else to be there to help so do things now that will take care of you later.

Encourage your children to spend some of that birthday money, but save some also.
We use ING for the children and once a year with money we have saved here and there for them we buy relevant stock. Sean's is Home Depot, Jack's is Hershey. ING had a program called Sharebuilder, you can set up an automatic investment each month to purchase stock you've selected from over 7000 companies. Right now they are having a promotion $40.00 to start investing. Visit ING.com now to learn more. It's nice to have something tangible for the children to see. you can get a certificate of the stock at oneshare.com to frame.

Never pay the difference needed when your child is so close to saving enough to get that item they must have. Encourage them to save, do chores so they will know that reward of saving and working hard to earn something that they wanted.

Also, always kiss them good bye, and never go to bed angry with them. Make sure that they know that you love them. Foster relationships with family near and far. Also, if they have a good friend, encourage them to develop that. Everyone needs at least one good friend.

Most important, live what you teach. Save for that rainy day, live without regret, stay close to family, and don't lose touch with close friends. If you live to 100 you'll have friends and family to celebrate it with, and enough saved to throw the party yourself.

Suzanne