Category Archives: Kids

Frugally Free Fishing For Kids… With Rubber Gloves

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It’s funny, just these past few years, I’ve found out that fishing is free for kids under 16 in my state!  So that means I can take both of my kids fishing without paying for a fishing license ($16 per year per adult).

So last year, I took my son and daughter fishing, and to my surprise, they had a blast.  My son had a ball casting over and over again.  And I got to teach my daughter the ropes.  Of course, I was constantly nervous of getting hooked or them getting hooked, but it worked out okay.  It was nice just hanging out with them.

My son caught a few small bluegill.  My daughter had some bites but didn’t give the fishing pole that little jerk that hooks the fish, perhaps this year she’ll do better.

When I was a kid, my older uncles gave me grief about baiting the worm on the hook and after catching a fish, taking the fish off of the hook.  I did it, but didn’t like it!!!  Now, it’s 2nd nature to me, but my kids are in the same circumstance I was in as a kid.

So what trick do I use to make it more pleasant so that my kids want to go fishing?

I decided to buy some rubber gloves to make it easier on my kids.  My daughter’s still not to crazy about the process, but my son took to the gloves like a fish in water (sorry, corny joke).

The beauty of using the gloves is if you get them wet first, it’s better for the fish because when you use your hands, you take some of the protective oil off of the body of the fish.  So it’s a win-win! My son enjoys using the gloves so the bony fins don’t jab him, and we help keep the fish healthy at the same time (if we release it)!

Oh, I do want to share one little tip!  If you just want the kids to fish for smaller fish, try small cut up pieces of hot dogs!  They worked better than worms when we were in Disney World last year.

Do you use any special tricks to make an activity a little more enjoyable?  If you do, what is the activity and what’s your trick?

-MR

The True Cost Of A Family Movie Night

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Yes, now that school is out, the kids wanted to have a family movie night yesterday (Tuesday), so my wife caved (probably she caved because my daughter asked, and it’s hard to turn her down when my my beautiful 6 year old daughter’s face is all scuffed up from her accident yesterday).  We both hurt when we look at her, I know I would have caved too 🙁

So, thinking about it, I decided to post the cost associated with our displaced family movie night (it’s displaced because it’s usually on Fridays).

Costs of Hosting Our Family Movie Night:

  • The movie media (DVD):  I usually go to the library to get the movies (although lately, we have been going to red box) during lunch.  Of course, when it is from the library, the cost is free.  It’s free because I typically go to the library every workday to work on this blog.  When it’s Red Box, it’s a buck plus gas…
  • 1 bag of Popcorn (4.00 for a package of 3), so since we only use 1 bag, it’s runs us $1.41 (this number includes taxes).
  • Reeses Pieces and other candies:  oh lets say 75 cents.
  • Pop for my everybody except my daughter who drinks juice still: $1.25
  • Electricity: Whoa!  I’m getting way to detailed, besides the cost for electricity would be the same since the TV would be on anyway… we’ll skip this cost!

So all told, if we average the movie media (DVD) cost between the library and Red Box, the total cost for “Family Movie Night” comes to….:  $3.91!!!  This number contrasts to my previous calculations where I underestimated that the total costs came to only $2.00

Not as bad as going to a movie theater, but still not free either!  I can honestly say, that before we just did this exercise, I just had a guess with respect as to how much we spent for a “family movie night” event!  My previous estimate was too low…

However, the $3.91 cost is well worth the family bonding & snuggling times, and laughs that the entire family encounters as we watch the movies together.

My favorite part of Family Movie Night is hearing the honest laugher from my son when he finds something funny.  It’s truly heart warming…

What is the cost of your favorite near free family activities?  Most have hidden costs that you don’t often associate with the activity itself… like gasoline cost to go to the park, etc…

Enjoy the summer!

 -MR

Daughter Injured, Almost A Costly Emergency Room Visit

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My daughter was riding on her Razor Scooter down a big hill when she took a very bad spill.  A neighbor carried her to the house, and when I came downstairs (because of the crying), she was a bloody mess (literally).

I hate when my kids stub their toes let alone are bleeding in multiple places!  When my kids are injured, I go in an extreme panic mode and always want to fly off to the hospital.  I’m not quite as bad as I was when my son was a toddler, but it’s still there to some degree.

Luckily, my wife is a little more calm than I am (although she said she felt sick to her stomach too, seeing my daughter so badly hurt).  My daughter had very bad scrapes from hitting the concrete with her knees (her left one looked more like half of a red ball replaced her knee… it was so bad), elbow, fingers, lip and forehead.

Her left front tooth socket was even bleeding!  I got a flashlight and checked to make sure her jaw and gums weren’t damaged, then relaxed a bit more once I determined it wasn’t that bad.  I then check her knee and elbow, the elbow was fine, and she was able to walk, so we chalked it up to just bad scraps.

So the problem in these scenarios is that we shouldn’t overreact!  Even though your child may be screaming bloody murder, they might be better than they appear and sound!

Just a quick check on your injured child could save you from an expensive hospital visit.  I have a friends wife who runs the kids to the emergency room even for colds with a moderately high fever.  This is why health insurance is so high!

-MR

End Of Grade School, Sad But Endearing Transition

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Yesterday morning started out with me watching a play performed by kindergartners.  My daughter did a great job as I expected, no surprises.  All of the 4th graders watched the presentation.

What was surprising was the “send off” the school Principal and teachers did for the 4th graders.  My son’s Principal’s husband also coaches my daughter’s soccer team, so I know the Principal to a certain level beyond what I normally would know of a typical principal.   As she gave her speech about the 4th grade class and started crying (a little), I knew that it was legitimate and touching.

The send off, wasn’t anything like I ever remembered!  It included awards of some type for every child.  Not one of those kids came away from the “send off” not feeling special in some way or another.

A few of the female teachers were teary eyed.  The Principal sent one of the teachers away to get a box of tissues.  I was impressed, but also tired of tired of clapping.  There were a lot of awards.  I was kind of proud of myself because I clapped as enthusiastically for the first student honored as the last student.

The grand finale was a slide show presentation of the 4th graders throughout different stages of their life.  The pictures for the slide show was from when the 4th graders were kindergartners to current times.  I was impressed with the time and effort that was put into it.  The slideshow lasted at least half an hour.

I know this post wasn’t about personal finance, but it was still a very personal experience that was worth sharing!

I have to wonder if most school systems do something comparable!  If so, I’m impressed!

Thanks for hearing my story 🙂

-MR