According to a poll from Wakefield Research quoted in the Chicago Tribune story, nearly three-quarters of parents say the recession has increased stress in their families, and a third  say their children have expressed concern or nervousness about the economy. Parent’s worries affect kids — those whose parents are anxious or stressed by the economy  are four times more likely to be stressed out themselves.

Money is not something kids talk about with their friends, either, so kids often feel very alone with their worries.

I know, believe me I know, that it’s extremely difficult to keep your money worries from affecting your kids. We’ve found ourselves snapping at our kids or being too preoccupied to parent well when we’re worried about money, and our kids are mostly too young to understand the concept of money and jobs. What we do is to reassure our kids that they will always be taken care of, even if we can’t afford to do some of the things they really enjoy. How has the recession affected your kids, and how do you talk to them about your family finances?

Also, they haven’t yet met Mr Right and they don’t want their careers to suffer, apparently. But a whopping 60% of those young women surveyed said they were putting off having babies because of the cost.

However, for slightly older women (Gen Xers, 30-39 year olds), half of those surveyed said the main reason they hadn’t sprogged up yet was because they hadn’t found the right bloke. And only 17% of these ‘old birds’ said their jobs were a priority over having children.

So what are we to make of it all? Well, if you’re The Australian newspaper, you take the survey’s results as a warning to youngsters not to wait for advancing years and rapidly approaching infertility, but to plan on having kids sooner rather than later.

Which is all well and good, but what if the desire hasn’t hit you yet and you’re having too much fun travelling around the world at a moment’s notice – or hell, even going to the shop for some milk spontaneously? What if the idea of kids just isn’t in your orbit? What if, Heaven forfend, it never ends up being on your To Do List, or you never feel ‘ready’? Is it not perhaps irresponsible to be urging women to get pregnant out of fear that one day it may be too late – when they have yet to meet a decent man or feel even remotely like kissing their youth goodbye?

Just a thought.

But what do you reckon? Are you a Gen Yer who’d rather get on with her career and earn some cash than pop one out? Or are you a Gen Xer who didn’t want kids when she was younger and now fears it may be too late? Let us know in the comments boxes below.

According to today’s Times, the high-end baby products industry has taken the same hit other luxury retail industries have taken in the recession, with many companies claiming 15-17% declines in sales over the last year.  Apparently, parents who spent limitless amounts on their first born are thinking better of doing the same for babies two or three, and turning instead to relatives, friends, the Internet and other sources of hand-me-downs.

Basically, the article describes what everyone I know in my face-to-face life has been doing since we were children ourselves–shopping smart, as if money did not grow on trees.

My mother raised me to figure out where the rich people’s clothing donations went and to shop for designer duds a season or two old.  When I became a mum, I checked out the local kids’ consignment shops and discovered I could do even better on Ebay.

Now that I’ve got two daughters, I rarely buy new for the baby sister.  But I do make sure what I’m getting for the first child will wear well and pass down in good condition.  Once my younger daughter has outgrown items, the nicest ones go into a box for my best friend’s yet-to-arrive daughter.

Is this not how The Rest of Us have always lived, recession or not?

Actually, the rest of us may benefit a bit from this downturn of conspicuous consumption.  The demise–and liquidation–of a local high-end boutique full of designer European clothes for knee biters recently allowed me to stock my older daughter with scrumptious outfits for her first year of school at vulture-like prices.  And when her little sister’s turn comes along, she’ll be wearing them too.  I don’t think many folks in my neighborhood will notice they’re two or three seasons out of date.

Oh thank goodness I just read the story. Because “money camp” for kids is really about business.

And in an economic meltdown caused in part by people who have frittered away their money buying on credit and not reading the bottom line, its clear our kids could use some good lessons in financial literacy.

Serving kids eight to eighteen, the Money Academy day camps teach kids business planning from market research on through production of a product or supply of services. The kids learn entrepreneurship and good business practices, mixing ethics with fiscal facts (for a sample of what they do, see below):

According to a study last year, funded by Merril Lynch and conducted by the Jump$start Coalition found the use of debit and credit cards by U.S. high school kids is climbing, but as many as eighty-seven percent of teen users have no idea what they’d be required to pay if their card was lost or stolen, and less than half are aware they should and check their credit report annually. Some schools require financial training for kids, but more are pushing so hard to keep up with curriculum demands that there is no room for these basic life skills.

The camp isn’t for everyone – it’s $US300 to $US370 for Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 3:30 (just one week), and it’s located in Austin, Texas. But for parents who can swing the extra cash, it might pay for itself. Would you send your child?

Source: NBC

Via Cookie

Image: MoneyAcademy

Thanks to the new Ghostbusters video game, our kids finally have an inroad to the classic Ghostbusters franchise that isn’t just Mum and Dad lamely singing some old Ray Parker Jr. song. And, thanks to this Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Bank, the kids also have a way to get their favorite Ghostbusters character on their shelf — as well as some incentive to weigh him down up there.

Standing 8″ high, Stay Puft is fully detailed to match his onscreen counterpart — and by the time the much-talked-about new movie in the Ghostbusters series materialises, he could be up to his eyeballs in loose change. Not to worry if Stay Puft overfills, though — there’s also a Slimer bank due in stores this October.

Stay Puft, meanwhile, will be available in July — preorder yours now for $US18.99 at Entertainment Earth.

It’s the economy, stupid!

A report over at the news channel cites a lack of money as the reason parents are backing down from overpacking their kids’ schedules with activities. But is that really “good” parenting?

Or is it more OVER parenting – the too-far-gone version of attachment parenting described right here on Babble (by attachment parenting expert Katie Allison Granju no less) as “overly investing themselves in their kids.”

Because if signing my daughter up for Girl Guides, ballet lessons, piano, soccer AND story hour, with pre-school thrown into the mix is good parenting,  you can call me exhausted. I’m not that good.

So maybe we should all be thanking this disaster, er, financial meltdown for what it’s done to level the playing field. You can’t send your daughter off every night this week for an extra-curricular “well-rounding” activity? Me neither. Let’s get them together to play in the backyard instead.

Last one to the swingset is a rotten egg.

Image: Zazzle

A new U.S. study found the wage disparity between mothers and non-breeders could be as much as $US11,000 for the same position (per year). Providing fake resumes to employers for two women – one with kids, one without – the researchers working on a study since dubbed “Getting a Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty?” found moms were ranked as both “less competent” and “less committed.”

Considering even the better-paid childless women are still earning seventy-seven percent of what a working man earns in America, working mums are truly getting shafted.

But before you start cursing those kid haters in the office, researchers found the exact opposite held for fathers vying for jobs. Dads were considered a better catch for employers – perhaps because they’re seen to “need” and “want” the job more in order to provide for their kids.

So it isn’t about the kids. It’s about that age-old assumption that women just want to be home changing diapers and watching Oprah while they nap and Dads want to be the big, strong providin’ man.

Yawn. When are they going to get the picture that women who are working are doing it because they “want” and “need” to be there too? That we like putting food in our kids’ tummies as much as the next GUY? And that we have this little thing called a mortgage/rent that we are pretty sure we’d like to see paid this month… just like the guy?

Image: BabySigns

via Savvy Sugar

The ‘cruellest cut’ may also be illegal
Once routine, now often thought unkind, the cut may also be illegal. Parental consent might not be enough to protect the circumcisers of baby boys from later legal action. The Age

Many mums smoke through pregnancy: report
Many Australian women who smoke don’t quit during pregnancy, a study shows, and when they cut back it’s only by a couple of cigarettes a day. Essential baby

Australian economy defying world downturn
Households have shrugged off the economic gloom, uniting with China’s steelmills to propel Australia to the best economic growth in the industrialised world and defy predictions the economy has been shrinking for six months. The Australian

Origin kids asked to stay off school for week
Hundreds of children who attended last night’s State of Origin rugby league match in Melbourne have been banned from returning to school under tough new anti-swine flu measures. Daily Telegraph

Mummy bloggers know best
Companies are rushing to sponsor the increasingly popular blogs that offer tips on parenting. Times Online

Private hospital births cost as much as $20,000
Wealthy expectant mothers are being charged as much as $20,000 to give birth in private hospitals. Daily Telegraph

A new report suggests that modern parents splurge almost $21,600 on average ($5394 each year) on gear and food on their first child’s first four years. Clothes and nappies are the biggest cost.

In a revolting fact that may steer you towards cloth, Australian babies will churn through more than 2 billion nappies this year, a massive 5.6 million a day.

But it’s clothes where discretionary spending hits the big time.

A Herald Sun story quotes Antz Inc 4 Kids store manager Eva Guff as saying that “some mothers spent up to $1000 in a single hit to update wardrobes. Others mixed and matched designer jeans or jackets with cheaper tops.” Recession? What recession?

It’s also not uncommon, apparently, for parents do dress themselves in Kmart gear so they can afford to go designer for their bub.

Here at Babble we’re not immune to the lure of the designer label – in fact, Droolicious is featuring a delightful $US98 Marc Jacobs dress today. I’m not going to go without a visit to the hairdressers though so my son has an expensive new t-shirt to show off at Playgroup though. And we buy just as many op-shop clothes as boutique numbers.

Where do you shop for your kids?

How will your family be affected? We’ve gathered the detail on the major family and pregnancy-related changes, and have the details for you below. Let us know what you think of Treasurer Wayne Swan’s new budget in the comments section.

Paid Maternity Leave
As announced on Mother’s Day, Paid parental leave will be introduced from January 1, 2011, at the federal minimum wage, currently $543.78 a week, for up to 18 weeks.

Parents who receive this payment will not be eligible for the Baby Bonus, except in cases of multiple births where parents will not receive the Baby Bonus for only the first child.

Parental leave payments will be taxable and will have an impact on the parents’ entitlement to family assistance payments, but will not be deemed income for income support payments.

Parents who choose not to receive the paid parental leave or who do not qualify will still receive the Baby Bonus and other family payments.

Primary carers will be eligible for paid parental leave if they earn less than $150,000 in the full financial year prior to the birth or adoption of a child, have worked at least 330 hours over the 10 months preceding the birth or adoption of a child and have worked continuously with one or more employers for at least 10 of the 13 months before the expected date of birth or adoption.

In some cases, the paid parental leave will be able to be transferred to another caregiver if the primary carer returns to work early.

Families Minister Jenny Macklin has attempted to justify the fact that a high-income woman with a poor partner would miss out on the payment, while a poorer woman with a billionaire husband would receive it.

“Paid parental leave is a workforce entitlement, so eligibility is connected with the individual worker,” she said.

Child care
In a move welcomed by working women, the rumours of the Child Care Rebate becoming means-tested were untrue (or perhaps intense lobbying made a difference!) It will remain at a 50% rebate on fees capped at $7200 per child, per year.

Baby bonus and Family tax benefits
The top income limit for family payments will be frozen at $150,000 combined income until 2012.

The payments themselves will continue to be indexed, though the government will bring Family Tax Benefit A into line with the other payments by linking it to the consumer price index rather than the couple pension rate.

Medicare safety net for IVF and private obstetrician fees
Although cuts to the Medicare Safety Net were widely predicted, the cuts have gone far beyond what was expected.

The Government will introduce a cap on Medicare benefits payable under the Extended Medicare Safety Net for a range of items with excessive fees including all obstetric items and some ultrasound items related to pregnancy.

From January 1, 2010, once a patient reaches the safety net threshold of $1111.60 in out-of-pocket medical fees, or $555.70 for those on low incomes, safety net payments will be capped at: – $200 for the planning and management of a pregnancy, including being booked into a hospital for delivery. – $30 for a pregnancy consultation, including blood, urine and weight checks. – $550 for the planning and management of an IVF pregnancy.

Keeping in mind that one IVF cycle can cost $6000, and many obstetrician’s pregnancy management fee sits around the $4000-$6000 mark, a few hundred dollars rebate will make these options largely unaffordable for most Australian women. “It’s going to mean that IVF for some people is only going to be available for the rich,” Access Australia chief executive Sandra Dill said.

Private health insurance

High-income earners have also been slugged with reduced rebates on PHI rebates, coupled with an increase in the Medicare Levy.

The rebate will be means tested once an individual earns more than $75,001 and a couple earns more than $150,001, and will decrease on a sliding scale, until $120,001 for singles and $240,001 for couples, at which point it cuts out completely.

In a double-whammy, the Medicare Levy Surcharge aimed at those people who do not take out private health insurance will climb from 1 per cent to 1.25 or 1.5 per cent depending on a person’s income.
Midwifery services

The budget has seen a surprise win for midwifery services. The Government will provide $120.5 million over four years for the introduction of Medicare‑supported midwifery services to provide greater choice for women during pregnancy, birthing and postnatal maternity care.

The new arrangements will allow midwives to work as private practitioners, provide services subsidised by the Medical Benefits Schedule and prescribe medications subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule. The Government will also provide subsidised medical indemnity for eligible midwives working in collaborative arrangements in hospitals and healthcare settings (but not homebirths.)

A new 24‑hour, seven‑days‑a‑week helpline will also be established to provide antenatal, birthing and postnatal maternity advice and information to women, partners and families during the ante‑natal period and up to 12 months following the birth of a child.

Women in rural and remote areas will be assisted by an expansion in the Medical Specialist Outreach Assistance Program to provide integrated outreach maternity service teams for women in under serviced areas. The expanded teams will include midwives, obstetricians, general practitioners and other health professionals, such as paediatricians and Aboriginal health workers. Additionally, funding will be provided for the professional development of midwives and for general practitioners to undertake additional training to become GP obstetricians or GP anaesthetists.

Carers

In welcome news, the Government finally says it recognises the “vital role” that carers play in the community.

Those who receive a carer payment will receive the pension increases of $32.49 a week for singles on the full pension rate.

As well, a permanent carer supplement of $600 a year will be introduced for carer payment recipients and an extra $600 a year for carer allowance recipients for each person in their care. The supplement will replace the Government’s one-off bonuses and the first payment to carers will be made at the end of June.

Tax cuts

Proposed tax cuts for the new financial year, announced at the last budget, have not changed. From 1 July 2009:

• The 30 per cent threshold will increase from $34,001 to $35,001;
• The low income tax offset will increase from $1,200 to $1,350, meaning the effective tax free threshold for people earning $30,000 or less will increase to $15,000; and
• The 40 per cent tax rate will be reduced to 38 per cent

First home buyers

First-home buyers rushing to sign contracts before July can breathe a sigh of relief with news the first-home owner’s boost will be extended in full for three months.

First-home owners entering contracts between July 1 and September 30 will get a total of $14,000 when they buy established homes and $21,000 for new homes.

The boost will halve for those entering into new contracts from October 1 until December 31, with those buying established homes receiving $10,500 and the latter will receive $14,000.

Sole parents

While the budget gave a well-deserved increase to aged pensioners, the pension for single parents remains unchanged, as do benefits for young people and the unemployed.