Along with international- and emerging-market stocks, our global portfolio includes allocations to gold and commodities, which tend to have low correlations to the US dollar and help to diversify portfolios (for more on gold as a diversifier, please read blog post: The New Gold Rush?).
Mom just kept a watch over us to see how we were doing but now every time someone gets a sniffle the parents want to rush off to the doctor for care and doctors being human only want to please the patients and their families.