No one can argue that we are facing tough times in our community. Changes have been dramatic. Financially, the impact has been intense with job loss, mortgage foreclosure, and critically reduced income. Careers have been cut short, layoffs continue...and yet life goes on: infants still demand nighttime feedings, toddlers still need to be potty trained, school age kids still want an equal amount of candy as their siblings, and adolescents still try to assert their independence. How do we manage to tend to our children's needs through their development when we must devote so much of our energy to managing the difficult economy? This edition of Parent's Place e-newsletter is devoted to parenting during hard economic times.

One of the most important effects of the current economic crisis is the emotional toll that it takes on our families. Whether or not you have had personal experience with job loss or foreclosure, the community experience has affected all of us. It is impossible to turn on the television without being faced with grim financial reports. This has changed us all. The boom bubble has burst, and the worst has happened to many families—our friends, our neighbors and our relatives. We no longer have the luxury of thinking that these things only happen to "them." Our children know this. They know it by witnessing it in their neighborhoods, by overhearing conversations about it, or by sensing our distress.

So what to do? First, we must acknowledge that our children are living in a stressful time, even if we have done our best to shield them from difficulty. That's OK. It is not the stressors that do damage to our kids, it is our reaction to the stressors. Research tells us that children learn how to handle and manage their emotions primarily by watching how we, as parents, manage these tasks. What we do as parents has far more impact on our children than what we say. Our behaviors are the teachers. When we model positivity, empowerment, and optimism, our children believe in inherent human capability. When we model fear, pessimism, and victimization, our children believe that life is bad and scary. We cannot protect out children from bad things in life, no matter how hard we try! What we can do, however, is help to instill in them the belief that when bad things happen, we will figure out how to take care of ourselves. The most empowering knowledge that we can have is to know that no matter what happens, we will find a way to handle it. So, when faced with difficult times, we must use our own emotional skills to calm and soothe ourselves, and from there, we can make a plan for our kids.

Be honest: Have the money talk with age appropriate information. Your kids don't need to know the details of your income, but do need to know the rules of budgeting, saving, and entrepreneurship.

Use your time wisely: If you are unemployed, spend some of that extra time with your kids in a positive way, enjoying each other! If you are still working, understand how much your kids need enjoyable time with you in the face of this crisis.

Enforce rules and routines: No matter what, through relocation, job change, school change, maintain a dependable routine and structure. Structure increases kids' sense of security. Don't relax the structure out of guilt or the desire to give kids a break!

Normalize life's difficulties, and capitalize on opportunities: The old lemons to lemonade thing. Parents transmit these messages to children through their own ability to remain positive through the challenges. There is no greater gift to give our children.

View this time of life as an opportunity to teach your kids that change happens and that we have the ability to handle it. We all have to learn this lesson at some point in our lives, and it is much easier with parental support and encouragement!

ENJOY!! Fun is free. Devise a "Belly Laugh List!" Make a list of what provokes a belly laugh for each family member, and promote laughing!