I walked in the door from shopping the other night, and Lily had a little office set up on the floor in the foyer.

She had her pink telephone, a stack of computer paper, the kind with the green and white stripes, and Bob's old computer keyboard. She was "typing'' furiously.

She got up and came to me in the kitchen. "My boss said if I don't get my work done, I'm going to lose my job!'' she told me.

"Wow, really?'' I asked.

"And my house. And my kids!'' she added.

Ummm. I guess Mommy and Daddy should not be talking so much about the bad economy, pending layoffs in various industries including our own, and the price of gas and food.

Whoops.

Then last night she asked me as I tucked her into bed: "Do we have enough food to eat? Are we going to run out?''

"Yes, we have enough food, and we have jobs so we make money and can buy more,'' I assured her.

"Good'' she said, "because I have $100 in my wallet and I want to buy a giant toy.''

I had never thought of raiding her little pink mermaid wallet to buy groceries. Until that moment.

Let's hope and pray we never get that desperate!

By Cindy Kent
Sun-Sentinel

This is our vacation -- right here, right now.

I would like to think this was a great strategic plan on our part, that considering the cost of gas, food and the expense of eating out we decided the best way to enjoy the summer was at home.

But really, it required no planning whatsoever.

My son Tom will visit family in Miami frequently over the summer months including a few overnight and weekend stays at his grandparents and his sisters' place. A day trip to a water park hanging out with his older brother and some other stuff will fill out his time with friends.

Tom and his friends play lots of card and video games; they go bike riding and to the park. Tom loves archery and martial arts both of which also keep him busy. For other ideas on how to keep busy without leaving South Florida, check out the Sun-Sentinel story about "staycations."

We like to mix all that fun stuff up with chores: taking out the trash, washing the dishes, helping with laundry and yard work. And believe it or not we throw in a few grammar and math worksheets! (He finished this year with a 4.0 average.)

Now, we're working on getting him to enhance his summertime adventures by picking up a book.

Cindy Kent is a Fort Lauderdale mother of three.

I wanted to believe. So did my wife. So did the girls.

But when a modeling/talent agency told us our girls had been “chosen” to be represented, and all you have to do is pay $500 per child plus $40 a month (per child), forgive me, but I got skeptical. My journalist’s instinct, dormant through the early steps of the process, kicked in when the modeling agency started asking for fees up front. One Google search later and I was on the phone with my wife telling her to get out, with the girls and with her money.

If you’re about to enroll your child in a modeling or talent agency, do your homework. I’d have to do a little more journalism homework myself before naming the agency in this space. From what I’ve been able to gather, agents are supposed to get paid when they find work for you. When they start asking for fees up front, start sniffing. If there’s any hint a bovine has been to the bathroom, run.

I did, and I trust the girls may someday forgive me. But not on Friday evening. Not at first. And who can blame them? Seemingly nice people were telling them they have what it takes to be a model. They were on the brink of being discovered, and these nice people were going to help.

“They’re cheats,” I said after their mom pulled them out and tried to explain my reservations. “They’re not going to help you. They just want your money.”

“You don’t know that!” they each replied, and they were right, in a sense. I was going by my gut, by a few web sites in which people who had dealt with the same agency warned other prospective customers to head for the hills.

I realized, with too little tact, that in their eyes I was not protecting them – I was doubting them. I was doubting their beauty, I was doubting their talent, and I was doubting their marketability as models. None of that is true, but it is what they were feeling. A dream was within their grasp, and I yanked it away from them. I felt an ache in my heart. It has not gone away.

But if they’re going to be serious about modeling, acting or dancing professionally, we are all going to have to realize that there’s hard work and investment involved. No one’s going to knock on our door and hand us the opportunity of a lifetime.

Worst of all, there will always be people and companies out there eager to exploit our hopes and dreams.

I know I made the right decision. If the people we were dealing with are running a legitimate agency, they weren’t acting like it. And maybe I’ve only been a “father” to these girls for a year, but I’ll be cursed if I’m going to let some vultures break their hearts.

I’d rather have them angry at me.

Thank you to all of our writers, guest writers, and readers that shared their birth stories as part of our Labor of Love series. It’s been a difficult week for me with wildfires surrounding my home, and the birth stories provided me with moments of respite and love.  From VBACS to home births, our experiences have varied but we’ve all been blessed with our children!

Three winners have been randomly selected for our Labor of Love Week Giveaway from our Eco Child’s Play forum.

• Candu won a pair of IsaBooties!  Candu lives in Hanoi and suffered wounds from his wife’s grip:

All day the contractions got more painful and intense. She had to wait for 40 second long contractions and we had been waiting all day for it. I should have got her to cut her nails earlier, for now I have open wounds on my back and hands. Girls got some grip! She would lean right into me and hold on tight when she got another wave. She shook in pain and her eyes squeezed tight. Wave after wave after wave… Now I know why they call it labour! Read more »

I am a closet Chick-lit lover. Although I love reading the classics such as Doesteovsky, Maugham, and Hesse (my favorite writer); sometimes I need an easy and light reading that doesn’t need a dictionary as a companion. So it’s no surprise that I would totally take to the From the Hips: A Comprehensive, Open-Minded, Uncensored, Totally Honest Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, and Becoming a Parent by Rebecca Odes and Ceridwen Morrisis. Although pregnancy is a serious subject matter; I didn’t want to read the pregnancy bible, What to Expect When You are Expecting. I really had hard time making it past the first chapter. It seemed a bit too authoritative; I pictured a nagging mother instead of your best friend. But From the Hips is definitely your best girl friend talking you through the trials of pregnancy with wit and a bit of sass. Who doesn’t need a bit of humor when you are carrying around a baby 24/7?

Read more »