The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 43

ii- Ifie ftilaiidpfiia Jnquiror BADLY MAGAZINE PEOPLE HOME MOVIES THE ARTS TV STYLE THURSDAV SECTION 'December )89 Children need tips on money Parents often give thrift short shrift. ik mo till (A, imam ill lAr il (I By Lynn Simross Los Angeles Times rhen those holiday checks for the children and teen When it comes to holiday tips, are you Scrooge or Santa? What do you give the doorman, the beautician, the maitre dl And do you lay a little something special atop your trash containers'? agers start arriving from Philadelphia Inquirer tU Hlixfc Carolina's bartender Christina Lauria opens a customer's gift; one patron gave $20 to each of the 20 on the restaurant staff. Cfaristnias lar faraway grandmas and uncles, will your youngsters know how to man-, age the gifts of money and save them? It depends whether you've taught them the benefits of stashing cash and how the banking system works, or if your youngsters have been lucky enough to get sdme practical money-management lessons in school or through local savings institutions. Although experts agree that it's best to start children early in learning about money matters, savings sense hasn't been a big part of U.S. parenting practices.

A .1987 survey, for example, found that 35 percent of American parents had discussed money management with their children, although other studies show that the 27 million 12- to 19-year-olds in the United States spent $30 billion of their own and $41 billion of their 'parents' cash in 1989. Youngsters, in fact, have so much money to spend, they now have their own marketing nickname they're Skippies, for School Kids with Income and Purchasing Power. But if you've been skipping out on giving your children the education they need in money matters, what's to be done? "All children should be given an allowance if possible, because they are going to be handling money in our culture all the time," recommends Joyce Brothers, a psychologist and behavior columnist. "It doesn't matter how much money they get but how the parents handle it. The children should learn how to budget that money and how to save for something They learn responsibility that way." Sylvia Porter, a syndicated financial columnist, urges parents to start youngsters with allowances and savings programs "the earlier the better, as soon as they have something to bank, even if they're starting with an allowance of 25 cents a week." Schools, educators concede, offer only sporadic money-management lessons; most banks, savings and loans and credit unions, because of legal restrictions on accounts, usually don't seek out youthful customers, although some offer special programs' to help the young learn about money.

Many financial institutions sponsor Junior Achievement programs to help teenagers learn about money, by teaching them to manage their own businesses. The Federal Reserve issues free videos and comic books on basic banking matters for children. Many institutions, however, feel restrained by the in seeking young people's money. Most offer savings accounts for children, some with no fees and minimal opening balances from (See MONEY on 6-D) By Karen Heller Inquirer Staff Writer It's beginning to cost a lot like Christmas. You've remembered your cousin Ralph.

You've bought for all the kids. You've even found a gift for your great-aunt Eleanor. But what about the doorman? After all, you see him everyday, and if lucky you see good ol' Ralphie only every other Thanksgiving. And the manicurist? She's made those nails look like art, miniature masterpieces really, when the 10 lhat you came in with were so beat-up, it made you positively ill with embarrassment. It's important during the holiday season to remember those folks who regularly made your life a little nicer throughout the year from the mail carrier and the garbage collector to the friendly neighborhood barkeep.

What do you give them? What are they getting? "I'd say the average gift is $10," says Manicurist Bea Regalbuto, above left, gets "an extra 55 or $10" at Christmas and some customers give "little tokens, like a scarf or a pair of doorman Bernard Petterio, above, says he receives cash, cookies and candy from Dorchester residents Bernard Petterio, looking dapper in his doorman's brimmed black cap, long navy coat and crimson scarf outside the Dorchester, where he stands guard. "People give between $5 and $30. Then there are the delicacies, cookies and candy. I'd say roughly half the people here remember you at Christmas." The Dorchester, a 515-unit building at the southwest corner of Rittenhouse Squarei is known as one of the most sociable buildings in town, so sociable that it is affectionately referred to as the "Dormchester." Petterio is new to the place he has been there only a year but the desk man, David Harris, has worked in the airy lobby since 1976. "I tell you, I've had every kind of chocolate I think they make.

I've gotten wine, champagne. Sure, plenty of nice gifts. I once got $100. Boy, that was something," says Harris, shaking his head. "But I spoil these people, see.

And I've been here longer than they have. I'm a fixture around here. I know their problems. I've heard my share." Giving gifts to the building staff is a holiday tradition, though many folks are confused about how much to hand out. The tenants' committee of one Center City apartment complex has come up with a suggested gift list: $20 from efficiency dwellers, $25 from people in junior bedrooms, $30 from full bedrooms, $35 from two bedrooms and $40 from three.

The committee plans to divide the total among the doormen, maintenance crew and other building employees. A Christmas gift to prized bartenders, maitre d's, waiters or your favorite street vendor isn't always necessary, particularly if tipping has been generous throughout the year. But for regulars, people who come in weekly, if not daily, it's an awfully nice thing to do. "Gee, Bill, have you ordered the Jaguar yet?" bartender Christina Lauria asked her boss, Bill Hoffman, the proprietor of Carolina's, as he strolled up to the long poplar-and-beech bar of the Center City restaurant. There will be no Jaguar.

But Lauria, a favorite with the regulars, will be having a lovely and lucrative Christmas, even if it doesn't include a fine example of British motorcar engineering. "A lot of the customers are in here every day," says Lauria, 23. "You take care of them. They take care of you." Hoffman thinks the gifts are a nice bonus. "We definitely don't think of this as given, an entitlement that we all expect," says Hoffman, sipping a Perrier at his popular restaurant.

"But it does feel nice when people remember." People remember. Lauria has received quite a few gifts of S20. The giving season, according to everyone asked, started last week and continues through New Year's Day. Last year, twenty people thought of Lauria during the holidays; one regular gave her $50. This year, (See GIFTS on 6-D) iMv.

Kviv -s (, h.m svf- tKW. VAi i.t viO) ti-r tw nM im -W travel cast, walk in the morning sunshine; when you travel west, walk in the late afternoon. Wander or stretch on the plane and also exercise on land. RISKY CLIMBING If rock climbing is your hobby, you might switch to social climbing. People who climb lofty peaks like Mount Everest may suffer oxygen deprivation that damages their brains and results in temporary memory trouble, according to the New England Journal of Thirty-five mountaineers studied also had difficulty spelling and following simple commands.

One man who scaled Everest said it was a "trivial risk compared to all the others." Compiled by Mike Capuuo from reports from Inquirer wire services. Pennsylvania, in 257 pages New atlas tells you practically everything and nearly everything practical about the state. By Stephan Salisbury inquirer Staff Writer Say you're into Soap Box Derbies and you live in Lancaster County. Where can you get a fix? Ever wonder where to set up that spare windmill you've had out back since Aunt Martha died? Why are there so many volunteer fire companies in the Memorial Day parade? Want a deal on leather knickers? Where should you go? And how did the state's topsoil scrape by during the bum years of the Ice Age? Out of answers? Well, worry no more. The Atlas of Pennsylvania is here, hot from the Temple University Press and crammed with enough facts, trends and patterns, and brimming with enough maps, large and small, to satisfy even the most insatiable Pennsylvaniana nut.

Compiled by geographers at Temple, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh, the atlas took about three dozen scholars nearly a decade to produce at a cost of more than $650,000. But there is nothing like this 7'4-pound cartographic behemoth, a packed squirrel's nest or squirrel's megalopolis of geological, topographical, biological, demographical, cultural, economic and historical information. And if 227 pages on the state isn't enough for you, check the separate 30-page section devoted to the unique characteristics of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. "Some people ask why, why bother?" says David J. 4 (Se ATLAS on 12'D) INDULGE YOURSELF Here's some advice for women who feel unusually hungry during the last few days before their menstrual periods begin: Don't feel guilty about eating more; indulge yourself a little.

So says Baltimore dietitian Colleen Pierre. As your basal metabolic rate increases in the final days of your cycle, you'll burn 300 to 500 extra calories a day. You can eat a chocolate bar or two a day and not gain an ounce. KELP THE BLIND The Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind in Washington suggests some do's and don'ts for when you meet a blind person. Don't play "guess who" identify yourself; don't touch without speaking first; avoid words such as "look" or don't give unwanted assistance.

Do ask if you can be of help; greet with a handshake; speak in a normal voice (most blind people are not deaf); identify yourself when entering a room, and tell the person if you are leaving. HOLIDAY TRAVEL If you're flying for the holidays, here are some anti-jet-lag tips from California Jazzerci.se founder Judi Sheppard Missett: Save the alcohol for the Christmas party; don't drink during the flight. Brisk sunlit walks are curative: When you il:" tilt 1 m-m v- m' a fttKfdk MVrti MtWf INDEX Erma Bombeck 2-D Ann Landers 2-D Word watcher 2-D Joe GraedonOn medicines 2-D Dr. Ruth WeslheimerOn sex 2-D The Arts 7-0 Going-out guide 7-D On galleries 7-D Television 10-D TVradio talk 10-D Darrell Sifford 11-D Theater review 8-D Dance review 12-D inn nsi The volume, which took geographers of three universities nearly 10 years to compile, is brimming with maps detailing automobiles and gasoline stations, Little Leagues and golf hoes, dialect and population loss, and on and on and on. 1.