Kids, Parents | featured news

More parents are handing their smartphones to their young children in restaurants or on car trips to keep them entertained. That may be why almost half the top-selling iPhone apps are games for kids.

The problem is as old as air travel itself: Adults seated next to misbehaving kids while confined to a plane. Until now, at least, we knew whose side the parents were on.

When Michael Singer of Coral Springs, Fla., started saving for his children's college education about six years ago, he relied mainly on a 529 savings plan sponsored by the state of New Mexico.