Thoughts and stories, by Pal

Parents have a lot of wisdom and experience they should share with their children! Parents should be more intentional about financial conversations with kids By  BYU Media Relations  · March 2, 2020 As a parent, there are some topics that can be challenging to talk to your kids about. For a lot of families, money is one of those taboos. But researchers at BYU have found that no matter your level of confidence or know-how with finances, it’s very important just to have conversations about money with your kids. “If those conversations are not happening in the home, then when the kids get old enough to leave the home and they’re suddenly on their own with a credit card, they might not make the best financial decisions,” said Ashley LeBaron, the lead author and former graduate student at BYU. “We’re seeing young adults getting into some pretty sticky situations, potentially that will impact their whole life, because they’re not really prepared for fin...

This article brings back many memories!  I relate to this very well! It Can’t Be That Hard By Daris Howard  · March 28, 2017 Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE Sandy was a young mother with two preschool boys who were born eighteen months apart. They were like mini tornados. Each day it was all she could do to keep the boys clean and fed. And each day when her husband, Jason, came home, she would make sure the house was in order, even though she was exhausted. All she asked for was a little help in the evening so she could relax, too. But Jason would say, “How hard can it be to take care of the house and two small boys?” He would then tell her he had worked all day and was too tired to help. Sandy was good friends with Jason’s mother, so one day she talked to her about it. Sandy didn’t want to say anything bad about her husband, so she just mentioned how tiring it was taking care of the boys. Jason’s...

This is a very uplifting article, showing understanding of everyone's problems!  I saved this article from February 3, 2016, during my husband's last few difficult weeks.  It is appropriate at any time! Pain in Every Pew By Joni Hilton  · February 3, 2016 Image via lds.org Long ago I heard the phrase, “pain in every pew,” and glanced around the next Sunday during Sacrament Meeting, to see if it were true. And it was. But it was in more than every bench; there were struggles in every single family, every single person. As Relief Society President, I may have known some private matters not known to the general congregation, but every person I actually knew was facing adversity of some kind. It could be grief over the loss of a loved one, agony over children gone astray, frustration with a spouse, worry over finances, suffering due to poor health, self-pity, shame, persecution, a wavering testimony, loneliness, personal battles with weaknesses...

I read an interesting article on Facebook, and copied it to be used on my blog.   We raised our children in the late 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's mostly.  We lived in a neighborhood where most mothers didn't work.  We had 9 children, but in our neighborhood our neighbor to the left had 9 children, the neighbor on the right had 7, and the neighbor across the street had 10.  (Of course this was during the same years we were having our family.)  Also in the same ward a neighbor half a block away had 10 children, and another half block south another family had 9, and over a street another ward member had 10 children.  One of our daughters had 22 girls her age in the ward!                    Wayne and me on our honeymoon, in September, 1955, in Zion's Canyon. So our large family wasn't unusual.  Our children played together a lot, and it was safe in those days -- we could let them go to a nearby field...