Kids

It's as hard to talk your 20-somethings about money as it is talk to them about sex. Maybe harder. "They are probably having the sex," said Eleanor Blayney, a certified financial planner who often talks to the young adult children of her clients. She was laughing. "But they don't have the money. " Our 20-somethings - perhaps starting out in their first real jobs - don't want to hear us say they are spending too much on the clothes and the car and not saving enough. And they'd rather live on Ramen noodles Monday through Friday than give up going out on weekends with friends.

One of the consequences of abandoning a standard by which right and wrong can be judged is our increasing inability to mete out punishment that fits the crime. In fact, too often we weigh extenuating circumstances rather than guilty actions. In the case of the Boston bombers, observers search for reasons why the attacks occurred. But the failure to view the attackers as anything other than simply guilty and judge them accordingly is similar to the U.S. government's attitude toward the Middle East, which often sees Israel as the major impediment to peace.

The latest attack on Baltimore City children of color, exacerbated by Del. Shawn Tarrant's bill aimed at dually penalizing our youth for riding recreational off-road vehicles - both through the courts and the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration - is a good example of why we need to fully dissect the hundreds of bills affecting the lives of area residents coming from Annapolis each year and challenge those officials who have shown that they don't have...

This past weekend my mom and I went to New York for my first dress fitting at Kleinfeld Bridal (which was amazing!) and then spent the day doing touristy things. In the afternoon we walked the Brooklyn Bridge, which I would recommend as a definite must-do. While on the Brooklyn side we were admiring the carousel right on the water and all of the people below when we noticed people lining up with gold balloon letters. Once they were all organized we saw “Will you marry us?” spelled out in the balloons!

Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland recently met with the family of Sergei Magnitsky. The reasons for the meeting: In 2009, Mr. Magnitsky was jailed in Russia for exposing governmental corruption. While in prison, he died after allegedly being tortured. In December, with the energetic legislative support of Senator Cardin, Congress passed a statute, the Magnitsky Act, forbidding those accused of human rights abuses in Russia from traveling to the U.S. This month, the Magnitsky family came to Washington to thank Senator Cardin for his efforts.

As a senior financial planner with Baltimore money manager T. Rowe Price, Stuart Ritter spends much of his time on the job - and off - educating people about personal finance. April is Financial Literacy Month, and as many surveys show - including one by Price - we have a long way to go before we're a money-savvy nation. That means Ritter has his work cut out for him. Ritter took some time to answer questions about personal finance as it relates to parents and their children.

Cellphones and the Internet have not only altered the way we communicate, they have changed the way we can injure one another. The telecommunications revolution has created the capability of causing far greater harm to children than the bullying many of us remember from when we were young. The omnipresent nature of the Internet means that there is no place for the child who is victimized to hide. Not even one's home is a safe haven when repeated, vicious attacks appear on Facebook and Twitter.

When 11-year-old Benjamin Lausch competes in triathlons, his eye is on beating a boy from Pennsylvania named Daniel. Daniel competes in a lot of the same races as Benjamin and is "very, very fast. " Benjamin beat him once and hopes that with a little more time and practice he might one day catch Daniel again. Benjamin ran his first triathlon when he was 7 years old and has become fiercely competitive and hooked on the sport, which includes a run, swim and bike component. "I like the running mostly," said Benjamin, who lives in Mount Airy . Triathlons were once limited to adult competitors but are becoming popular among the younger set as well.

In a community ravaged by indescribable tragedy, every individual act of kindness, every unexpected moment of joy takes on a special significance that only those who are living with it can truly understand. So, when Loyola freshman Jason Crane organized a group of 14 players from the Greyhounds' defending NCAA champion men's lacrosse team to put on a youth clinic in Newtown, Conn., just three weeks after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it may have seemed like a small gesture that would soon be lost among the big headlines and and even bigger political repercussions generated by such a horrific incident.

Susan Reimer 's commentary touched on an issue that has bothered me for years ("Babies on a plane: Can the rest of the flying public cut mom some slack?" April 4). As an executive, I have been required to travel by plane on business for well over 30 years. I fly about once a month and often more than that. As a result, I have been held captive many times to crying, screaming infants or toddlers who keep it up for most if not the entire duration of the flight. Somehow, this just doesn't seem fair.