My daughter has a lemonade stand. This is no ordinary lemonade stand. In fact, it is becoming a fixture of the neighborhood, or it has in the last week.
You see, early last week my daughter and I went to do some errands. We walked into a toy store and this was a mistake. We were both tired. There was much whining and complaining and wanting of Playmobil, especially a certain camper van. The van is $60 with taxes, and there is no way I’m going to spend that much on a toy that isn’t a Christmas or birthday gift. So my daughter has to buy it.
Now, when you are five years old your options for making money are rather limited. I don’t really believe in paying my daughter to help around the house, but I have hired her for a couple of tasks that are above and beyond what she would ever do. Yesterday she tore paper into strips for the compost bin.
However, I’m not her main source of employment these days. The neighborhood children have banded together in a quest to get my daughter the camper. Two days ago, they washed most of the cars in the townhouse parking lot and donated some of the money to my daughter’s cause (she helped) and some to the animal shelter. We’ve also had a permanent lemonade, juice, berry and play silk stand in front of our house. I had some craft supplies and some silk dyes, so several little girls dyed play silks to sell. Of course, I seem to be an active customer at the lemonade stand, so I bought one.
As preschoolers get a little older, they develop a concept of spending and saving that is just starting to emerge. While my daughter has no idea how much $60 is, she is now saving and has acquired almost $20 for her efforts this week. It’s far more engaging to get something that way than to have a mother who says yes at the store.