My Little Entrepreneurs

Throughout my busy days, Michael and Claire are constantly asking me to help them with things or asking me to help them bring to life an idea in their head. There are definitely times when I totally help them, but there are way too many times that I kind of push their 'requested activity' off. One of these is having a lemonade stand. Sometimes, the timing of their request or the circumstances surrounding the day make it difficult for me to get to what they are asking for! Yet as I lie in bed at night and go through the events of the day, I am reminded that sometimes the little things are what make our big lives so bright. And I don't always get to the little things.

Damien is really good at helping them with their extra little projects. While I am doing a number of different tasks which keep our life moving, he helps them build forts, play games and this time- make a lemonade stand. We were still at my Mom's house and the kids were so looking forward to getting out on the street to sell lemonade. Claire and Damien made the lemonade and Michael made masks out of colored construction paper. They worked hard on a sign and we all helped them carry tables and chairs to the bottom of my Mom's driveway. I guess inflation has hit the lemonade industry hard because they wanted $1 per cup of lemonade! After discussing supply and demand, they reduced their price to 25 cents a cup.

They started selling drinks/masks right around rush hour so the street traffic was great! However, people apparently are okay with being pretty cold and driving by a waving, cheering, eager couple of kids trying to have their 15 minutes of fame! People kept driving by and driving by! Okay- so I get that some people would rather drink poison than drink the lemonade that might have been made with grimy fingers or produced in less than sanitary conditions. I myself don't necessarily drink the lemonade I buy from the stands ( or even take it for that matter) but it feels so good to give a child a dollar for just doing a great job and following through with their idea! When you reward them with a dollar the look on their face is better than the best lemonade I have ever tasted. It is about stopping to make them feel successful. A dollar to a child like Michael or Claire is so much more valuable than it is to me.

In the end, they earned $13.00 that afternoon. Our favorite part of the day was when a motorcyclist stopped by on his bike, bought a glass of lemonade and then purchased one of Michael's masks (picture a piece of paper with random holes cut out of it and you would be lucky if you could find two holes that would allow you to see with both eyes at the same time). He drank the lemonade and then shoved the mask into the shield on his helmet and rode off into the sunset. It was classic and the kids thought he was SO cool!

All in all, the lemonade stand was a success. So the next time you are driving down the street and see some kids with a make-shift lemonade stand just trying to feel successful- stop and give them a quarter, a dollar, or anything. The look on my kids faces when people stopped was priceless.