IN THE BACI4: ADVICE 4 ENTERTAINMENT > 50-Plus, D2 Parents & Kids, D4 Pets, D5
f THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2012
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BRIEFING
Plan participation stays unchanged
GOOD QUESTION
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Can my kid go to Bacheor so o~
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A report issued by
the EmployeeBenefit Research Institute last month found 39.7
percent of all workers contributed to their
employer-sponsored retirement plans ona regular basis in 2011.
The plan participation rate was 39.6 percent for
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2009 and 39.8 percent for 2010.
According to the report, employeeswere
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Editor's Note: Good Question is a biweekly feature in which a local expert in a particular field answers a question related to families. Have a question? Send it to family@bendbulletin.com.
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less likely to participate
in plans if they werenot white or were younger, female, never married, had poor health, lacked employer-provided
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health care or worked
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part-time. It also found that people who worked in agriculture, forestry
• My child wants to goto Mt. Bachelor on the shuttle bus with friends. How do I know whether my child is ready
were also less likely to contribute to their retire-
ment plans than people
for skiing/snowboarding
who worked in other industries.
'Train Man' at library soon
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The "Train Man" visiting the Downtown Bend Public Library with
his extensive collection
MONEY
of toy trains.
All ages arewelcome to attend the free events. Lavrich will
answer questions while demonstrating his trains
llluslralion by
representing the 1920s and '30s.
Greg Cross The Bulletin
Catch the Train Man at the following dates and times:
• 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2-6 p.m. Dec. 21
• noon-5 p.m. Dec. 22-23 • 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
2-5 p.m. and -8 p.m. Dec. 26 • 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2-6 p.m. Dec. 27 Contact: 541-6177050.
New film focuses on kids andgrief
three Bend moms, is slated to release its
• Baby boomers arespending moreon housingand education, putting off retirement By Mac McLean• The Bulletin
latest movie aimedat helping to guide children through grief. The film titled "Children and Grief, will
come out in January along with a workbook. Individuals can viewthe trailer at http://professor
child.com/children-grieffilm-coming-soon. The movie features
children talking about what it is like to lose a
loved one, aswell as their advice for children in a similar situation. Kids share how they
ccording to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, today's 45- to 54-year-olds are spending more of their money on housing, health care and education than anyone else in their age group has for the past 25 years. Financial planners and advocates for older Americans fearthese increased li ving expenses, which are hitting people between the ages of 55 and 64 equally as hard, may force some to postpone retirement until they can afford to enjoy it. "For some people, (being able to retire) is a matter of postponing the date you quit working," said Joyce DeMonnin, the outreach director for AARP Oregon. The need to balance the higher cost of living with a robust retirement strategy may also force some parents in this age group to make difficult decisions when it comes to what they
at the mountain without parental supervision'? Julia Carr is the Sunrise Lodge work supervisor and often supervises children between the ages of 3 and 13. She has been with Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort since 2005. Denise Ellington is the day care supervisor at Mt. Bachelor. One of the factors that Carr and Ellington agree is important when parents are considering whether to let their child go skiing or snowboarding alone is knowing their familiarity with the mountain. "Do they know how to get on and off the lift?" Ellington said. "Do they know where the ski patrol is? Do they know where the bus will pick them up? Some kids can be independent and mature but may not know a lot of these things." Ellington suggests parents go with their child if he or she is still unfamiliar. Children should know where to go for help in case of an emergency when at the mountain without parental supervision.
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— Michael Lavrich — is
business operated by
The Bulletin
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or the service industry
Professor Child, a local video production
By Megan Kehoe
or their children want and what they can afford.
Housing Between 1986 and 2011, the amount of money people between the ages of 45 and 64 paid for housing — including rent or mortgage payments and utilities — grew at a rate that outpaced their income growth, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey. They spent anaverage of $9,040 a year, or 25.4 percent of their median household incomes, on housing in 1986 and $18,782, or 29.4 percent of their incomes, on this expense in 2011, according to the survey. Households headed by people between theages of 55 and 64 saw theirhousing costs go from 25.9 percent of their incomes to 30.7 percent during that 25-year period. SeeSpend /D2
Carr also says assessing the child's snowboarding or skiing skill level is also an important factor. "Ideally, children going up shouldn't be beginners," Carr said. "They should be able to get around the mountain comfortablyand have a general understanding of the mountain in order to get down safely." While Carr and Ellington agree that there is no way to put an exact age on it, they say there are certain indicators of maturity to look for. SeeQuestion /D4
copeand tryto heal. The goal is to leave children who watch the film
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PAID'ADVERTISEMENTI~
with a sense of hope. Previous subjects of
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Professor Child films
have included divorce and siblings with special
needs. Contact: www
.professorchild.com.
Looking forscary, silly Santa stories Sometimes a child's visit with Santa Claus
doesn't go quite as Mom and Dad planned.
There's squirming, there's fretting, there can be downright freak-
ing out. The Bulletin is collecting stories and pictures of kids whose visit with Santa wasn't ideal.
If you have astory or photo to share, contact Alandra Johnson at ajohnson@bendbulletin
.com by Monday. — Bulletin staff reports
Caring for family caregivers • Age Wide Open support group helps those taking care of their parents Editor's Note: The Bulletin's All Ages section regularly profiles local organizations designed to help families and seniors. To suggest an organization, contact Alandra Johnson at ajohnson@bendbulletin.com or 541-617-7860.
By Mac McLean The Bulletin
Ali Davidson knew she was doing some good when 55 people showed up to her caregiver support group's first meeting in June. "There was so much emotion in the audience," said Davidson, the co-founder of Age Wide Open. "You could tell they really needed something like this."
More than 10 million people — about one-fourth of the U.S.'s population of adults whose parents are still alive — are providing some sort of personalcare or financial assistance to their aging parents, according to a June 2011 report issued by the MetLife Mature Market Institute. These caregiving responsibilities cost the country an estimated $3 billion in lost wages and pension contributions, and have a devastating mental and physical toll on the people who provide them, according to the report, which found 18 to 27percent of caregivers are in "fair" or "poor" health. Davidson said she witnessed this first-hand when
she ran a home-health-care business in Bend. She wrote a book designed to help people talk with their parents about what they need and want in terms of care as they get older. She formed Age Wide Open with Chelsea Callicott, a public relations specialist w ho caredforher father until he died this summer, to help people through this process. "It's comforting to talk to someone who knows what
you're going through," Davidson said. Most of the attendees at Age Wide Open's first meeting had their caregiving duties under control, she added, but needed someone who understood their predicament.
SeeCare group /D2
A T PRO N G H O R N
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Plan ahead and book r>otv to securegour sPace.
P RO N G H O R N A n A u b e rg e Res o rt
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Reservations Required. P lease call54t-6 9 3 - 5 $ 0 0 .