Noprah

A web-site I am familiar with sent me this email:

The Oprah Winfrey Show is looking for families willing to discuss how they are handling the financial crisis with their teens. Are you a parent that is having a hard time telling your kids "we can't afford that right now." Do you feel challenged when discussing finances with your teens? Are you looking for simple explanations that can help your family? If you are a parent struggling with the daily challenges of raising money conscious teenagers in a troubled economy- we want to hear from you.

Since this is something we had just been dealing with, I sent out a quick email:

I am happy to reply to this as I have 4 teenagers!

I have 3 bio kids ages 13, 17 & 19, and also a 14 year old we adopted from Russia last year.

We were already pinching pennies because of the high cost of adopting our daughter. I am blessed to have kids who are willing to sacrifice for a good cause! Like, most of our clothes come from Goodwill or clearance racks. (Only stuff in great shape though!)

They all do chores and get allowances, and they use their allowances for things they want, going to the movies, etc. We get them gifts only on holidays (Christmas, birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter) and the rest of the time if they want something (used to be toys, now DVD's, music, books, video games, etc.) they buy it themselves. Two of them have gotten pretty good at selling the stuff they don't want anymore on eBay.

We have made a few more changes in the last few months.

I told the family I was spending XXX amount of money on food each week. Once I spent that, I was not going to the grocery store again before the next Monday, we could just eat what we had in the house. (We ALWAYS have plenty of food, it's just not always what they want!)

For my two youngest fashion-conscious daughters who want lots and lots and lots of clothes, I have given them a clothing budget. I will buy their shoes, underwear and coats, but everything else has to come from their clothing budget, which has to last them 6 months. They are being a bit more discerning about what they buy. (In the past I have bought clothing items that were worn once or twice and then they didn't want them again.) This is new and neither of them has exhausted their budgets yet, so the jury is still out on how this is going to work.

We COMBINE TRIPS to stores. (None of my kids have their licenses yet.) If one of the kids wants to go to a store or whatever, I tell him/her when I will be going that direction. If the kid JUST CAN'T WAIT, then he or she will have to pay for the gas for the extra trip.

I clicked “send”, and forgot all about this.

Until the next day, when I received this email:

Hello In the World-

Please contact me at [phone number] when you are free to talk.

Thank You,

Leigh Posner
The Oprah Winfrey Show

I went to the Oprah web-site, and saw that they are looking for parents and teens for a show they will be doing on “frugal teens.” Uh-oh. . .

Ha! I can count on one hand how many times I have watch Oprah.

One of my favorite songs has this line:

What if the family turned to Jesus,

Stopped asking Oprah what to do?

Plus, I HATE speaking in front of people.

So unless I get a telegram from God, I am NOT answering the email. (Don’t even think about it, Krispy. Or Rake.)

I thought this was all rather humorous, and I told my kids about it. Here are their replies:

Space Cadet: There is NO WAY I’m going on NATIONAL TV. Who KNOWS what I might do to embarrass myself!!!!

Fatso: Yeah, let’s do it! I’d love a chance to grill Oprah on her support of Obama!

Czarina and Hoodie Girl: Mom, we’ve got to do this! We’ll be famous!!!!

Hoodie Girl: Where do they film Oprah?

Me: I don’t know. Maybe New York City?

Czarina and/or Hoodie (can’t remember exactly): NEW YORK CITY! Sometimes the Jonas Brothers are in New York City! Maybe we could meet the Jonas Brothers!

Hoodie Girl: And if we go on Oprah, maybe she’ll give us a new car!

Dream on. . .