When I was done on the phone, I went to find the kids. I knew they were outside, so I headed to the front door and asked them what they were doing.
Tim's response was a proud and excited, "We had two customers!!!!"
Uh-oh. I soon found out that 20-30 minutes is all it takes for my son to set up shop.
He and Maddie were sitting in our driveway out by the road. They each had a chair/stool to sit on, and they had a large box overturned as their table. Tim's piggy bank was proudly displayed, along with a box of his "goods" which included paper fans that he had previously decorated and folded, paper airplanes, and pencils.
He even had a sign taped to the front of the box which read, "Tim's Shop: 1 pound for everything."
I stood there dumbfounded. I just couldn't believe that all of this went down while I was on the phone. In a way, I was kind of proud of his careful planning and entrepreneurial motivations. But of course, he hadn't asked me if he could do this. So, Mommy stepped in and closed up shop (all the while, trying to control my laughter!).Apparently, a couple had come walking buy, and purchased two of Tim's fans for 2 pounds. I tried explaining to Tim that a pound (roughly $1.50) was a lot to charge for one of his fans.
In the end, I didn't crack down too hard on him, except for the fact that he didn't ask my permission. But now, I don't know what to do. I don't want to discourage him from doing things like this in the future (I always loved having lemonade stands as a kid), but I would rather have him charge fair prices, or do it for charity (which I know I can't force upon him). And then there's the issue of the 2 pounds sitting on the counter. What do I do with that? Do I let him keep the money?
I would love to hear some of your reactions and suggestions to this story. Has anyone out there found a successful way for your kids to become entrepreneurs?
7 comments:
I guess I'd say, had you talked about something like this before? I mean was he clear on the fact he needed to ask you permission? If not, I'd just make it a point to talk to him about it this time and say he needs to ask you next time and go from there. I'd let him keep the money. That's my 2 cents. Or 2 pounds. :)
I will say I got in trouble for totally manipulating my siblings into buying things that I didn't want from me when I was younger. I even talked my sister into buying a toothbrush from me. And now I hate sales! :)
he certainly didn't make those people take their money out and give it to him. they wanted him to have the money! give it to him!! it's adorable and it made me laugh!!! so stinking cute!!!!
How much for EVERYTHING in the box?
If that happened at our house, I know my hubby would be super proud of their initiative. That is super!!!
I would probably have a conversation w/ my boys and ask a lot of questions to try to see what their motivation for doing it was. Why did you do that? What gave you the idea to do that? What did you think mommy would think when I got off the phone? Is that something you would have done if mommy was around? Did you not want to bother me on the phone and so you went ahead w/ your plan anyway?
Consider what is the real offense here (if any)? And, then consider what kind of principles do you want Tim to learn from this incident? e.g. he should run his ideas by you before he executes or he should wait if you're on the phone to ask you to do anything he hasn't done before, etc.
I would, though, also highly commend his initiative and creativity and highlight the fact that men are called to provide for their families, make a living and he was demonstrating that even at a young age which is absolutely excellent and I know, something we, in the Almengor home, would applaud loudly.
And, like Danielle...that's my 2 cents which you can take or leave. :)
Thanks everyone for your two cents (or two pounds!). I talked with Tim today, and gave him accolades for his initiative (thanks Brianna... I needed that word to describe it), and careful planning/execusion of his idea. He understands fully now that ideas like this need to be run by mommy, and that this summer, we will do a lemonade stand together. I also did let him keep the money. right after this happened, he offered to split his money with Maddie, so I let him do that. They can both pick out a nice souvenir in Wales this weekend. Thanks for your suggestions everyone!
I love this story! It's amazing what kids can get themselves into in a short amount of time! I'm finding that out right now, but my time frame is more like seconds!
life is too short and they are too smart! the $$ is theirs! let them buy something cool with it...let them enjoy it! they are super smart kids...wow. if any lesson is to be learned it's that kids left alone for too long can get very inventive!
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