And considering that President George W. Bush had dyslexia; yup, sure can do things with a disability!

Doesn't sound like an effective social worker saying that embarrassment in the office was enough (I wonder if s/he has much experience). The punishment should fit the severity of the crime, and this one is no joke.

Well, when she's ready for the whole truth, tell her Santa was a real person a long time ago, named Saint Nicholas, who gave gifts to people in need, and he really did leave gifts in secret kind of like the story of Santa. You're telling her and her siblings the story in part because it's fun to get surprise gifts and in part with the hope that they would learn to be kind to others like Santa was, but all the time, not just for part of the year. It's a story, not a lie, like the fairy tales and cartoons aren't totally real, but they teach people something. The hospital visits and gifts to charities she already helps with are part of what being kind to people in need is all about. @Greg, when kids are losing their teeth, which is about kindergarten-first grade through about 6th grade, they start out having no clue about money, anyway, so a single coin is fine. Plus teeth are different sizes, so you can use that as an excuse to change up the amount. Get him a piggy bank at the same time, so then he'll have a place to collect his money and learn about saving money and counting. When they stop believing, you can stop the money deliveries.

Yea for parents! Go, Kelly! For Sopes, I don't know if semi-permanent advent calendars are your thing, but there's Etsy. :) http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=advent+calendar&search_type=handmade

Ah, the things kids say! Life is definitely more entertaining with them around.

Nice hats! 2 thumbs up. Happy Thanksgiving! If you were in the Chicago area, I hope you bundled up well! We played some 2-hand touch, too. The wind was brutal!

I don't know about the rest of the fans, but I'm not a stickler for dates, so if Sopes wants to blog on a day of the week that's not Friday, that's fine with me. :) Just call it Sopes' weekly blog. You can fit it in when it works with his schedule. Glad to hear the family gets to spend so much time together this week. Congrats on the win yesterday!

I agree with Susan. Charge him money from his allowance for not cleaning the cage. Call it a cleaning fee or something. Don't be afraid to make it steep. Your time and labor is worth a lot. If he finds it distasteful, give him the option of buying a supply of latex gloves and face mask (the medical kind, not the hockey kind, in case his brain automatically goes that way).

What a cool idea, Sopes! And how many necklaces did the dog put up with? :)

Brent, you make an awesome Batman! :)

There had been a similar discussion not too long ago on teaching finance to the next generation in a forum I frequent. One comment that struck me was one woman who said her parents talked about handling money responsibly, but never let her siblings and her see how they handled money (i.e. the bill paying and budgeting process), and how the lack of demonstration left her without a clue about handling money when she was on her own. Another thing that flabbergasts me is how some people use credit cards to buy things with money they don't have in the bank. There is no guarantee that you'll get paid on time or that you'll have your job in the amount of time it take to pay off that expensive purchase, these days. One of the best pieces of advice my mom told me was to always pay off your monthly bill in full - then you avoid interest and fees (and seeing the fine print these days, I'm glad I listened!). Because computers are accessible to your kids, consider eventually teaching them how to use the formulas and color formatting in a spreadsheet program like MS Excel to keep track of their money (the options usually have a standard for currency, and even the option to have negative numbers always show up in red). That way they can see pretty easily the impact of putting in a 'paycheck' and how expenses can add up.

That picture is hilarious! You'll have to keep it for the family album - something to look at in the future and laugh over. Congratulations, Lyla!

Wow!

I think the contest should involve creative ways to keep the Sopel family's relationship strong (between the parents & the kids and Sopes - i.e. ways to communicate, leave reminders at the houses, notes, gifts, etc.).