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Jane Kaczmarek
Malcolm's Mom Talks Money
By Shel Franco
Emmy-award nominee Jane Kaczmarek played the hilarious and harried wife and mother Lois on FOX's Malcolm in the Middle. As the mother of three and wife to actor Bradley Whitford (NBC's The West Wing), her real life often bears a resemblance to the one she played on TV.
As a mother, she takes a no-nonsense approach to parenting, especially when it comes to money. Having founded Clothes Off Our Back, a charity dedicated to auctioning off celebrity awards show clothing to raise money for children's charities, she tries to instill values in her children regarding finances and giving back to those who are in need.
Jane, who recently worked with Visa's PracticalMoneySkills.com, took a moment out of her busy schedule to share her thoughts on kids and finance with iParenting.
iP: How do you get your kids involved in work that you do for others?
JK: We have a big thing with birthday presents. I can't stand all this stuff hanging around our house. It makes me crazy – all this stuff that piles up. So I started something in the kids' invitation for their birthday parties saying that it is a family tradition, in lieu of birthday presents, please bring a check for the following charity – any amount would be very welcome. I think people always want to bring something to a birthday party and they don't know what your kid has and what they need, so we collect money at birthday parties. This year we went back to the Children's Defense Fund, which is an advocacy group for children here in American run by Marian Wright Edelman. We have done it for Smile Train, which is another favorite of mine. Smile Train does cleft palette repairs for children in the developing world. You know, $250 pays for an operation for a child and it changes their life. They go from pretty much being an outcast and beggar to being able to go to school and have a job. And $250 is pretty easy to raise at a kids' birthday party because people bring a check for $20, which is easily what they would spend on a present.