DEAR HARRIETTE: My family is fairly tight on money, and we argue about it a lot. I am away at school and get $125 a month for food because the budget is very tight. Sometimes I’ll have my friends over, and my family will start fighting about money. I see how uncomfortable it makes my friends, but my mom and dad seem to have no regard as they scream at each other. I want to ask them to stop, but I know they’ll snap at me and say I don’t understand how bad our financial strain is. I have an unpaid internship because I am trying to better my resume before I graduate from school and begin the job search. I don’t want more money from my parents; I just want them to stop broadcasting the family’s financial problems to my friends. How can I get them to stop yelling about how poor we are? – Short Budget, Port Chester, New York

DEAR SHORT BUDGET: Until your parents have a shift in their awareness around money, there is little chance that their financial situation is going to improve. One way to support a change in thinking is for you to learn about the Law of Attraction and share what you learn with them. Essentially, the law says that whatever you put out is what you get back. If you are constantly crying broke, you are inviting yourself to stay broke. If you speak about building wealth, you open up your mind and heart to new possibilities to attract wealth to you. There are many books that explore this philosophy. Pick one. Read it and share with your parents. As you practice this mindset, you will develop a better ability to share your transformation with them.

During this challenging period, don’t have your friends over. Enjoy their company elsewhere.

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DEAR HARRIETTE: My 6-year-old daughter recently went to a birthday party, and she returned home sporting a pink manicure done by one of her friends. I was indifferent to this, seeing as I grew up in a family of mostly women and recall painting my younger relatives’ nails from the age of 7 on. After our little Sofia showed off her nails to my husband, he freaked out! My husband is against our daughter painting her nails until she’s 16. We had never spoken about nail polish in regards to raising our child, but I feel like this is totally ridiculous. He likens nail polish to ear piercings and maturity, while I think it’s fun to experiment with colors. Nail polish isn’t harmful, and it even helped me stop biting my nails. How can I compromise with him? He made my daughter take off the nail polish and is completely rejecting any of my suggestions to be reasonable. – Nail Polish is OK, Melbourne, Florida

DEAR NAIL POLISH IS OK: Looks like you and your husband have some talking to do – namely about your values regarding your daughter growing up. You must figure out where you stand on a host of topics – from piercings and nail polish to dating and curfews. It’s not too early to start having those discussions. You will quickly learn that you won’t agree on every topic. That’s natural. You will need to learn how to reach an agreement respectfully so that your child doesn’t get confused.

Regarding the nail polish, tell your husband stories of your growing up and bonding around manicures. Point out that there is child-friendly, nontoxic polish available, which is wise to use on young hands. The jury is out as to whether nail polish is completely harmless, by the way.

— Lifestylist and author Harriette Cole is president and creative director of Harriette Cole Media. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.