Thirsty, Anyone?

Jabberjaw (on the left) and a couple of neighborhood friends

Jabberjaw came to me the other day with the question I think all parents dread but anticipate, nonetheless, when the summer sun comes a-peekin' out: "Can I make a lemonade stand?"

He had seen his older siblings each have a crack at it in past years and he was so enthusiastic about having his "day in the sun", how could I deny him?

Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  He's 10 now, so there wasn't too much I had to do, other than a little guidance and a short but thorough lesson on giving change.   It was a good learning opportunity, not only in counting money but also in how banks work.  I gave him a starter loan so he'd have cashflow to give change at the beginning, and explained to him that he'd have to pay me back before figuring out his profit.  He paid me back the same day, so I didn't charge him any interest.  Smart boy.

He and his buddy across the street got a card table and chairs from their parents garages and set things up at the bottom of the hill right at the entrance to our housing development where they would get more traffic than in front of our house.  We were fresh outta lemonade so we went to plan B:  Kool-Aid.  Unfortunately, I don't think they were as successful as they probably would have been had we been able to do the lemonade.  Jabberjaw said there were several people who stopped by to see what they had, chuckled (or as Jabber put it- "laughed at them"), and drove away.  Poor kid.

Oh well... they did get a few customers and made a few bucks.  Hopefully Jabberjaw got the whole thing out of his system and we are done for the summer.  Hopefully... but probably not.  He's probably going to still wanna make a 'real' lemonade stand.  Of course, my definition of 'real' lemonade, at least as far as what he's allowed to use for his stand, is still Kool-aid.  But he doesn't really know the difference, anyway.  Ignorance is bliss, they say...


Do your kids like to do sales stands in the summer?