It’s bad enough tanking up the car for our own carpools, but when you’ve got teenagers driving too, it starts to seem like you’re supporting the oil companies single-handedly. We’re finding the latest gas price increase particularly galling, since we paid $3.14 a gallon in Anaheim last week, and $3.59 at the corner gas station this morning. We should have checked the AAA Gas Finder web site first! You type in your zip code and voila, gas prices for every gas pump in the area. The Valero at the 24/680 interchange? $3.40. The Chevron on N. Main just a couple miles away? $3.60 a gallon. (Sorry, we couldn’t find anything anywhere near the prices in the photo above.) Not an East Bay-ite? No prob. The site has prices for 85,000 gas stations across the country. But we’d appreciate it if you Omaha, Nebraskans, didn’t gloat too much. Gas is only $3.12 a gallon there…

As a full-time working parent since my daughter was 4-months-old, I know the challenges parents face when it comes to balancing work with bonding with their children. But I also know for a fact that it can be done very successfully if the working parents are willing to make a number of adjustments to their lives to ensure that the time they have with their children is of the highest possible quality.

Three hours of true time together, one-on-one reading, snuggles on the couch or trips to the neighborhood park, can do more for our relationships with our children than an eight-hour stretch filled with chores and errands. And if the parent staying home with the kids is financially stressed, as is
likely to be the case in the expensive Bay Area, is she likely to be emotionally available for the children? It’s just too simplistic to look back at the ’50s…

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Dear Miss School Manners: My son is a freshman in college, attending school out of state (his choice, not mine). My daughter is a senior in high school, and at least for the moment, planning to stay in state. Next year, we will be shelling out for tuition, room and board and books - times two. Suddenly, the financial reality is hitting us hard. I did a quick Internet search on scholarships and grants but frankly, it’s overwhelming. The schools pile on paperwork but so far it has netted us only $1,000 in grant money, which is not nearly enough for the out-of-state expenses. I don’t want to force my son to transfer to a California school, but if you can’t help me untangle the money madness, I may not have a choice. What resources do you recommend for finding scholarship, grant and loan money?
Thanks, Cash-strapped in Concord
Dear C in C:
We can relate! Having children close together was such a good idea when they were toddlers. Now, not so much. So first, the basics: FAFSA. It’s the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid – and those of you in the preschool peanut gallery are going to want to pay attention too, because that college fund you set up in little Fauntleroy’s name? Yeah, you don’t want to do that. More on that in a sec…
(Read more after the jump. Or write to Miss School Manners now.)

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