Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / March 2008

My son recently turned 18 and I still owe back child support from when
I was unemployed.  My question is this - if I continue to support him
directly (buying him a car, paying for insurance, giving him money for
school expenses) can this be counted towards child support I owe?

Relatives of my 10 year old nephew placed a substantial sum in a UTMA
account for his benefit.  His parents are in severe financial need.
Is it possible for the child (trustee) to gift $10,000 to his parents
without legal or tax consequences.  Is a bank obligated to report the

I have just been re-reading How to Talk So Kids Will Listen... because of this
thread and think it doesn't quite fit any of Debbie's categories, so I'm
suggesting another one: "And there are fairies at the bottom of my garden!"
A lot of the book is really helpful, especially to ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/sports/playmagazine/02play-daddy.html
Daddy's Little Phenoms
by Pat Jordan
New York Times, March 2, 2008

The top 50 children's books
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nbook222.xml>
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How many people have read them? And of those ofyou who read them, how many
of you found one or more that resonated well enough that you tried to
incorporate thinking and techniques presented therein?
Every time the conversation of spanking comes up in a thread, I get

Have any of you seen the Spiderwick chronicles? I saw it with my 13.5 yr
old mentee.
I really liked it, and he did too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/05well.html
Coping With the Caveman in the Crib
Tara Parker-Pope
This article on dealing with toddler temper tantrums was interesting.

I have a great PTA fundraiser for any PTA chairs/moms in the
elementary school system.  Visit www.pressdough.com or my blogspot at
www.pressdough.blogspot.com.  I have created "the cookie clipper",
which is a set of 4 shaped cookie cutters, strategically arranged and

My DS is a little over 4..never did the terrible twos or even threes
but now that he is four he is really testing his boundaries.  Been in
the same pre-school for three years (started at 21 months).  Recently,
he really pushes the envelope with listening.  The school did not have

This legislation, enroute to the Governor of Virginia for his
signature, not only grants non-attorney employees of DCSE the ability
to practice law, but also seeks to bar nearly 1,000,000 people from
getting access to a court to have their unenforceable child support

Dorothy,
I tried some of your calming technique games with my boys.  The eldest
was very impressed thankyou.  In fact he asked if I had any more games
and where I learnt them from.

<http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/1F98783B2349A921882573FF001C0B4C
/$file/0855054.pdf?openelement>
<http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5goz_Z25ZPQRrtMIiy8YP0RX5FGsg>
The 9th Circuit Court of appeals ruled that the Navy can't break the law
even if the President says ...

I have a 6yo and 4yo, both boys.  The younger is extremely stubborn,
and his mother and I are finding it near impossible to get him to do
anything he doesn't want to do.  We have tried rewards/bribery,
punishments like removing favourite toys, exclusion, encouragement,