Some help for the unemployed with children, or at least those in parts of North Carolina, is being offered through a childcare program.

The Little Pros Academy announced Tuesday a free drop-in childcare program to assist families needing childcare assistance while interviewing for jobs.

As an unemployed father of a 4-year-old girl who is often underfoot while I look for a job, I appreciate such an effort and hope that other agencies start offering similar programs. Luckily, my wife works full-time at night, so I can schedule job interviews in the mornings and be home in the afternoon to take over childcare duties at our house. But as anyone looking for work knows, it's a full-time job looking for a full-time job, and having a safe place to leave your child while you go to a job interview is a big help.

"Little Pros Academy recognizes the strain being placed on families in today's difficult economic environment, and has created this program to assist families who might not be able to find care elsewhere when going to job interviews," according to a press release.

The program is available at its North Carolina facilities in Morrisville, East Cary and will most likely be expanded to the new North Raleigh location when it opens in March 2009, according to the press release. It notes that care will be based on current space availability for toddlers through pre-kindergarten children.

Now if some organization would only offer such help the rest of the day, when the job search or part-time work is in full swing. In the time I've been writing this, my daughter has interrupted me five times to help her find a toy, get a snack and turn the TV on. Yes, the TV, the perfect babysitter.

Aaron Crowe is an unemployed journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Follow his job hunt at www.talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com

Beyond giving birth, moms make sacrifices for their children. Maybe they do without the regular trip to the hair stylist so their kids can go to the right preschool. Or they stop watching soap operas in favor of cartoons or a trip to the park.

This Christmas season, more moms are sacrificing for their children by not buying things for themselves and instead spending the money on toys for the kids, according to a New York Times story.

The Times reports that in September and October, sales of women's apparel fell dramatically compared with the same months the year before. They were down 18.2% in October, compared with an 8.3% drop for men's apparel, according to the SpendingPulse, a report by MasterCard Advisors.

Any parent can tell you that finding a good daycare for your child is a giant pain. Once you've figured out how you'll work it into your budget, you shop around for a long time looking for the perfect place, and then when you've narrowed it down, you spend months on a waiting list just to see if you'll even be offered the privilege of sending your kid and all of your money to the daycare of your choice.

At least, that's how it used to be. The sharp downturn in the economy has had a pronounced effect on the daycare industry, as struggling families can no longer afford it. Parents are pulling kids from daycare and either staying home with them or sending the kids to friends and relatives during the workday. The waiting lists that used to mean job security for all the daycare providers have dried up, and centers are offering part- time services as well as extended hours for parents who work odd or extended hours.

Some parents are quitting their jobs because daycare expenses exceed their income. The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies estimates that day care costs range from $3,380 to $10,787 per child per year. In every state in the country, the monthly child care bill for two children is higher than median rent payments and as high or higher than a mortgage. Those figures are even before factoring in the fuel costs of getting children to daycare, which have been the breaking point for many families, not just lower income.

For families that don't have helpful grandparents, there are no easy choices. Many parents are forced to take on second jobs just to afford the cost of child care while they're at their day jobs. Families are cutting back on child care "until things get better," but so far, things aren't improving.

Our 3-year-old daughter has a very special life. I say that because the facts show that children who play outdoors have healthier, happier lives, and we apply that truth to her lifestyle. Our daughter knows what the rain feels like on her face. She knows how a caterpillar tickles as it crawls on her hand. She knows that trees have roots which go deep into the soil, and that lawns have thistles which can get stuck into little bare feet. She has watched birds in flight and has marveled at their joyous sounds. She plays with sticks and rocks, grass and sand, mud and worms.

Not all children are as lucky as our little girl. Many children don't have adequate opportunities to physically experience the world of nature they live in. However, there's a movement, which began gaining momentum around 2005, which aims at reconnecting children with the fundamentals of a natural world which their parents and grandparents knew so well.

The Leave No Child Inside movement is gaining new exposure, revelation and respect. It recognizes the fact that we are natural beings, and that we all need to remain mentally and physically connected to our natural world. Author Richard Louv, provided national exposure to the concept with his immensely popular book, Last Child in the Woods. It was he who originated the term: Nature Deficit Disorder.

Two generations ago most families lived on working farms. All family members participated in the work and had responsibilities. School was designed to give the children the summer off primarily because they were needed on the farm to help with the planting and harvest of crops. Children had responsibilities and a role in the family.

Fast forward to the present. Most families no longer live in the country and in too many homes children have no real work to do. With the advent of TV in the 50's, an amazing change happened to the role of children in this country: their primary role became "a consumer."

This change began gradually with Saturday morning cartoons and cereal commercials. These cereal ads were really the first attempt to market directly to kids. Perhaps you remember them? Cereal with submarines and other toys in the box so the kids beg, cried, and screamed until their parents bought it.

Working parents all over the country lament that fact that they don't get to spend enough time with their kids. Then they spend an average of more than $500 a month on daycare. So the obvious question rises: "Might an entrepreneurial parent be able to spend more time with their kids and still earn a decent income by operating a daycare center out of the home?"

In a piece on The Dollar Stretcher, daycare operator and industry expert Fiona Lohrenz looks at the financial advantages of this business. You'll spend less on gas and dining out, and there may be substantial tax savings to be had from operating a home-based business versus working a regular job.

Of course, starting a home daycare business is no simple task. There are plenty of regulations, so be sure to do your research. If you think this is an option you want to explore, you can get a copy of How to Start a Home-Based Day Care Business for 1 cent + shipping used on Amazon. Of course, check your local library first.

Last night, I overheard my six-year-old daughter make a comment to my wife, that got me thinking. Just what I can conclude from this, I'm still working out.

My daughter, Isabelle, saw a reference in some ad to Wii, the popular Nintendo game (as if I need to tell anyone what Wii is). And she made an off-hand comment to my wife that we can't afford to buy Wii.

It sort of stung for a variety of reasons. One, I'd like to think that I could afford to buy my girls a round-trip ticket to the Moon, if that's what they wanted. Two, I know Isabelle would love a Wii console and all of the games that go with it. Three, what killed me is that it isn't that I can't afford to buy a Wii; I just haven't decided if buying one is worth it to our family.

I mean, we only have so many disposable dollars in our income. We could buy a Wii, but then maybe we wouldn't go on a vacation this summer, or we'd go on a smaller one. Or maybe we could have our Wii and our vacation, too, but we'd decide to cut back somewhere else, whether on the restaurants or movies that we go to, or the books that we buy. It's an inexact science, just what our disposable income is, but I know we'd take a hit somewhere, even if we didn't necessarily feel like we were cutting back.

Many parents are going to be unhappy when they open up their stimulus check in the coming weeks and find that the IRS didn't include their children. Despite a government push for No Child Left Behind, the IRS left 350,000 or more families behind when it comes to the economic stimulus package. The good news is that the IRS has identified the problem and is taking steps to get new checks out to those affected.

The glitch was caused by paper filers not marking a certain box and also by errors in two commercial tax preparation programs. These issues human and computer, led the IRS calculations to miss the children when calculating the rebate amounts. Thankfully affected families do not need to take any action to get the rest of their stimulus package, the IRS will be mailing the additional check out in July.

This is likely to be a bummer to many people and I can see why this is annoying. Unfortunately the old adage, "garbage in, garbage out," applies to rebate processing as well. If you filed on paper and didn't check the box, be happy you get a second check in July. If you used one of the affected programs, live with the wait or email the company and ask for your money back. In the end I'd just be happy the tax software didn't make a bigger error setting you up for an audit!

You never know when something that gets under your skin is driving a lot of other people crazy too. It turned out that my post last week (Rules for Air Travel with Children) churned up strong feelings and some very good points. To all of you who wrote, thank you. It is, of course, what blogging is all about. I've read every single comment and would like to respond to some of what's been said.

First, there were parents who wrote about traveling with a child who has cancer, with an autistic child or the child who is en route home from something traumatic. Your points are important. None of us know what is going on in another person's life. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that we simply can't see. It's almost always worth erring in the direction of human decency and compassion - everywhere, including on airplanes. When your child is having a hard time, it may help to give the people sitting next to you a bit of information if the circumstances warrant it. I've seen people who I thought were cold or nasty turn into really nice human beings once they understood a situation.

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Raising children can be a challenge. It can be an even bigger challenge in a single income household. But perhaps the biggest challenge to successfully raising children is when one parent is required to do it alone. Aside from all the regular chores and details of child rearing there is one important question which must always be considered by families and single parents alike; Where is the money going to come from?

I'm very lucky in the fact that while my wife is a stay at home mom, something I consider a personal luxury for me, she's a very industrious woman and has never lacked personal drive. She has always been able to contribute to our financial health while at home wearing the badge of mom. However, she has me around for backup and she has found various income opportunities which haven't required her to meet an employer's arbitrary schedule. The situation is quite different when there is just one parent in the home. What exactly can single parents do to provide financial stability for their household? How do they cope? Where can they go?

A recent article by Forbes provides some employment suggestions for single parents. It highlighted some flexible career options, including sales, real estate, and health care. I'd like to expand on some of those suggestions and add a few of my own. Please don't consider any of these ideas to be gender specific. I believe that these ideas apply to single dads as well as single moms. After all, we all have to buy groceries to buy.

The other day I was going through my oldest daughter's book bag and found a note aimed at all of the parents. The school was asking each family to give their child a dollar to donate to a fund-raiser being held for a family in Cincinnati. I mentioned the fund-raiser to Isabelle, who is 6 and in kindergarten. She took in the information I gave her and then very sweetly and somewhat concerned asked, "Daddy, do we have a dollar?"

I smiled at the innocent question before thinking, "Well, in this household, it's probably a reasonable question." Still, I found it endearing, since even on our worst days, we generally have a dollar, maybe even several dollars... somewhere... in the couch cushions. And so I assured my daughter that I had a dollar, and she could take it to school.

She trotted off somewhere, and I started to admire the school. To help get parents to reach into their pockets, the school promised that the children whose parents participated would get to wear pajamas to school and participate in a party and see a movie. Since this was going to happen on Valentine's Day, when a party for the kids were already scheduled, I assumed that everyone would see the film and be in the party--but the kids whose families donated, would get to wear their night clothes.

And, of course, I was going to give Isabelle the dollar--to help her have a fun day and to know that we'd be helping a family. But I couldn't help think: Did they just bribe me in order to do a good deed?

What follows is a "My View" column that I wrote for the Cape Cod Times while I was in high school. I am posting it here as my response to Tennessee's decision to require financial literacy classes:

We are approaching a retirement crisis. The average baby boomer household has a net worth of about $100,000, less than one-sixth of what most experts agree is needed for retirement. According to a recent article by actor, economist and writer Ben Stein, retiring baby boomers are headed for a decline in their standard of living similar to the one that swept this country in the 1930s. With the Social Security system that was supposed to serve as a safety net in limbo, pundits are lining up to blame just about everyone for the boomers' dismal financial situation. Some blame the politicians. Others blame a materialistic consumer culture characterized by conspicuous consumption. But I think there's one institution that no one is talking about that deserves a giant share of the blame: schools.

Americans have made poor decisions with money (a savings rate of zero, compared with the average Chinese household's 40% savings rate), landing themselves in the precarious position they are now in. That's largely a result of financial illiteracy. Far from correcting this problem, the schools have ignored it, and kids still know nothing about money.

We know a wonderful Cape Cod family who have had more than 100 children. Most of them are grown now but even though they're edging up on 60, Bill and Marilyn still have the requisite 6 or 7 kids in their house.

As you can probably guess, Marilyn and Bill do foster care, at least some. They prefer to do guardianships and are on a first name basis with the judge who does adoptions. Last year , after three years of planning, they took more than 30 of those (mostly adult) children on a cruise. Bill earns a good income, he's our dentist, but you don't take 30 people on a cruise if you let money, as they used to say, "burn a hole in your pocket."

All the kids are involved in after-school activities and the family goes camping every summer. There are also no small number of appointments, school conferences and shopping trips. They are well known at BJ's, a trip they make monthly. The family travels in a full-size van.

When my sons were young and I didn't know what to do, I called Marilyn. Once you've raised 70 or 80 kids there isn't much you haven't figured out. I also try to notice what she does.

There is always a cooler (and you can be sure it isn't a small one) in the van. 100% of the time, Marilyn carries pre-packaged snacks -- juice boxes, peanut butter crackers, trail mix, etc. She doesn't have to think about it when she's getting six kids out the door because filling the cooler is a regular part of the routine.

It's not only less expensive than fast food. It's faster and of course, cheaper.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore described (subscription required) his teenage sons "classic withdrawal symptoms" when limited in their video game use. He rejected his 6-year-old son's pleas for a PlayStation.

That's learning.

No one was prepared when the video game surge took over childhood. If American children could no longer play in the woods or in the neighborhood, they could be found exercising their fingers at the video game. By high school weekends, it could go on all night. Worst of all for our family was the online game Everquest -- referred to by those in the know as Evercrack. Designed to be highly addictive - players "level up" -- it was the first irrefutable indicator that our older son was carrying some addictive genes. In the backyard bunkhouse, he and his friends could be found any hour of the night, computers plugged in, an empty box of Krispy Kremes beside them. More than once, we found him asleep at the computer. "What's the worst thing I ever did, Mom?" he once asked "Stay online all night?"

I feel compelled to followup on my rant earlier this week ("Kitty Couture: Money Down the Drain") by a reader reminding me that a preschool enrollment race is underway. This is especially true in New York City where 3 year-olds face heavy competition to be accepted at preschools with an annual tuition as high as $30,440. Forbes recently did a piece on the most expensive preschools in America.

It isn't the tuition that bothers me. Infinite money entitles people to whatever expenditures they choose. I don't care that by comparison to the Ethical Culture/Fieldston School rate, the preschool at New York City's prestigious Horace Mann is a more affordable...$26,880. I don't even care - although it is mystifying - that in a 2002 scandal, Smith Barney investment analyst Jack Grubman appeared to have raised the rating of a stock important to Citigroup just as the Citigroup CEO was putting in a good word for Grubman's twins at the prestigious 92ND Street Y Nursery School.

Grubman?