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Money Speaks
Myria Allen and Celia Ray HayhoeMarch, 2009
It's a refrain that can make a parent quake - a teenager's voice saying, "Mom, Dad, can I borrow $500?" But communication professor Myria Allen and Virginia Tech professor Celia Ray Hayhoe want to make this conversation and other discussions of money easier for teenagers and parents alike.
They have created an interactive CD-ROM called "Money Speaks" to help teenagers and their parents communicate about money.
On the CD-ROM, four teenagers play a reality show "game" where they ask to borrow $500 from their parents. Throughout the video, the viewer has opportunities to make choices for the "contestants."
The CD-ROM contains quizzes for parents and teens to evaluate how well they communicate and how they manage money. In addition, "Money Speaks" covers topics like building trust, talking to teens about money, dealing with conflict, making good decisions, managing financial stress, determining needs versus wants, planning spending, saving money, understanding credit and developing values and goals.
The CD-ROMs cost $10 and can be ordered online at http://www.uark.edu/moneyspeaks.