I’m spending Memorial Day having as much fun as I possibly can—and I hope you are too.

Whenever I take time off like this, I like to point you to some of my most helpful recent articles that you may have missed. This gives you a chance to catch up—right on a week when you may have a little extra time yourself.

Huge Earning Potential for Young People Skilled in a Trade

This article includes an inspiring 9-minute PBS NewsHour video featuring Discovery Channel TV host Mike Rowe.

Will Your Kid Be Able to Afford His Dream Life?

The quiz in this article lays the foundation for some great family conversations. (Pay your teens to take this quiz if that’s what it takes!)

Medical-Based Financial Aid For Even Minor Medical Conditions

Learn how to apply for this specific kind of financial aid here. (You’ll need more than just the FAFSA form for this.)

Fewer Screens * More Cheerful Chores * Happier Summer

Learn how one mom accomplished this, mainly by having her kids fill out a form every morning. (Downloadable form included.)

Hear Me Interviewed on the FamVestor Podcast

See me live in my living room in Minnesota! Lots of ideas for parents of littles and older kids too. Listen while you’re cooking dinner.

Urgent Info for Parents of 9th Graders

Parents, do this now—and set yourself up to get way more financial aid money in 3 years.

Financial advising professionals—my understanding is that you should be able to send this article on to clients without creating a compliance issue, as long as you’ve discussed this topic with the client beforehand, and, when you send it, you include the suggestion that you meet on the phone or on Zoom to discuss it further on a future date. Thanks for being a hero to these families!

Help your kid (ages 12–18) sidestep this kind of financial future.

Get your copy of my book:

It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing all at once. You can pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.

To help your kids get free from worry over standardized tests—read the very helpful article I’ve written here.

It’s making a lot of students and parents feel better!

It’s a wise idea to view difficult, challenging tasks as adventures.

Adventures that allow you to climb to new heights—and see things you’ve never seen before!

When I saw this Archie comic recently, I couldn’t believe it. Was it really published way back in 1997?

The answer is, yes it really was published way back in 1997!

This USA Today fact check article tells the story. (We’ll all have to just ignore the spaceships zipping by outside the window.)

Did your kids struggle with at-home learning during the pandemic?

Helping our kids succeed at high school, college, and life despite at-home learning is a part of getting them through college debt-free and into jobs they love afterward. I provide students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them with help on this subject inside my TRIBE Membership. Learn more and get on the Waiting List here.

Why wait until January 1st to start off on a new path?

If making a change will help your life (or your kids’ lives), you could start on your new path this coming Monday.

One way to do this is to subscribe to my free weekly email newsletter, which keeps debt-free college at the top of your mind as your kids are growing up from age 12 to age 26. It comes out every Monday morning.

You can subscribe now, here.

This small step will take only seconds—but can help you make incremental changes that can impact your children and your grandchildren for generations.

For more inspiration on the subject of small steps that lead to huge results, read the article I wrote on the power of taking 5 minutes to look toward the parenting horizon.

It’ll help you feel better about all you’re doing for your kids this week.

I love this Healthline article about 11 foods that boost brain and memory:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-brain-foods

Are you looking to especially boost brain power for academic work or standardized testing?

Read an additional article: What Should Students Eat Before Testing.

This help is kindly brought to you by me—the author of this book:

If you’re parenting through the pandemic, you’re doing something that hasn’t been done in this country in 100 years.

Nothing—nobody—has prepared you for this.

Let me give you a boost of encouragement.

You are doing better than you think. Give yourself a break. Cut yourself some slack. Lower your expectations.

As long as the kids are fed and safe—what you’re doing and how you’re managing this is good enough.

This quote about parenting through the pandemic says it well:

You’ll find even more encouragement about parenting through the pandemic in this article by Tara Haelle.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from it:

“I think we maybe underestimate how severe the adversity is and that people may be experiencing a normal reaction to a pretty severe and ongoing, unfolding, cascading disaster. It’s important to recognize that it’s normal in a situation of great uncertainty and chronic stress to get exhausted and to feel ups and downs, to feel like you’re depleted or experience periods of burnout.”

“This is a once in a lifetime experience. It’s expecting a lot to think we’d be managing this really well.”

~Ann Masten, PhD, a psychologist and professor of child development at the University of Minnesota

Encourage yourself today—not by managing perfectly today—but by doing this.