Grasshopper New Media Presents...

I had an interesting experience this week. A freshman at a local college responded to an ad I’d posted for occasional care for the Punks. She sounded energized and excited about working with our family. I was thrilled, too.
Then pay came up. She was charging $5-6 per hour for sitting services. […]

My stomach turns at the smell of most baby food. Not so much the first stages; bananas and apples are pretty non-offensive. Once they move on to the pureed version of turkey and noodles, though, I can’t quite conceive the yellowish gelled glop as food. Combine the smell of this epicurean treat […]

My wife and I are having an open-ended, open-minded, gloves-off discussion about our son. Specifically, the debate is whether or not he is, at 16, old enough to get a job.
I won’t give away whose position is what. Instead, I’m going to implore you to weigh in. What’s the right age for employment? Does girl […]

I hear plenty of parents who say that they would love to homeschool if only they could afford it. There are plenty of ways to minimize the cost involved in homeschooling, but there are also plenty of ways to go broke as well. I tend to be one of the people who go broke. I’ve […]

Last week, I spoke to you about possibly raising money fro Ma Chen, a Chinese mother who has opened up a school for autistic children, and is trying to raise $10,000 to buy a farm so the children will have a place to go and work after they have finished school. We’ve opened up […]

Of the three or so subjectively "rich" people I know, only one made his money entirely by himself. He’s a distant cousin who started a college business taking teenagers on ski trips, then sold the business for 7 figures a few years later. He and his family are set for life.
Not surprisingly, his two kids […]

Have you checked into the cost of having an appliance repaired lately? Its frightening how quickly those charges can add up.
We purchased a washer/dryer set used from some friends almost 2 years ago. The machines were only about a year old when we got them. Everything went great for a while, then […]

I found a link to a story in the Wall Street Journal this morning that should convince every parent out there that anything is possible for parents with a will and determination to make the world better for their children.
Ma Chen has a daughter with autism. But she doesn’t live in the US, she […]

During a recent visit to New York I found myself in FAO Schwarz , the most famous toy store in the United States. (Remember that scene in the movie “Big” where Tom Hanks visits a toy store? That’s it!). Of course, I had been there many times before in my single days working in the […]

Imagine spending hours scouring the internet for the very best deals for Christmas presents. Imagine painstakingly researching the reviews of 30 or so toys and finally placing an order. Imagine delighting in your finds and rejoicing that you’ve finished shopping within your budget. Imagine spending the remainder of the day walking on […]