If you were to drive by my house 12 years ago in the heat of summer, you would have seen budding entrepreneurs in motion. My 6 year old son and his 4 year old sister, in bathing suits and bare feet, setting up their lemonade stand in the front yard.
I cringed at the idea. A busy mom with five kids, an endless supply of laundry, cooking, cleaning and chores, didn't want to design, manage and supervise a lemonade stand in 110 degree summer heat. It was quite a production as there were signs to paint, lemons to be squeezed, pitchers to be filled, cups to gather and tables and chairs to be set up. And so I announced a rule. A proclamation of sorts. They could do this said lemonade stand as long as THEY did all the work. Which of course meant that I searched for poster-board and glitter and gathered up the paint, the brushes and glue, dug out the pitchers from the back of the high cabinet, located the ice bucket, pulled out the card table, 2 chairs, tablecloth with the lemons printed on it, cut the lemons, and plugged in the juicer. They were great little supervisors, and they did all the rest..... I swear. (Except get all the sticky sugary lemonade off the floor, counters and the trail out the door.)
The other kids scoffed at the idea, but my 6 year old son was not deterred. he worked that lemonade stand like a professional. he was charming and sweet and leveraged his little sisters cuteness. Soon they were back in the house to make more lemonade. This went on a few more times before they closed up shop for the day. It lasted longer than I thought it would. My front yard and front room were spotless as I kept a keen eye out for stranger danger, but the laundry was really pilling up. My son sat down to count his money, he had made over 100 dollars!! I poured myself a glass of lemonade and that's when I realized he had forgotten to put the sugar in!
As I lay in bed that night I couldn't get over the fact that he had made well over 100 dollars, and I knew with his big windfall, that his older brothers and sister would get on the bandwagon and a lemonade stand would be a permanent fixture in my front yard for awhile. To tell you the truth I was exhausted just thinking about it.
But here is what I knew.....THEN
- I wanted my children to express themselves in creative ways.
- I wanted to encourage their "BIG ideas, and help them achieve them.
- I wanted my children to be more important than my tasks and to do lists.
- That doing this with 5 children is A LOT OF WORK!
- I wanted my children to have a chance to experience all things.
Here's what I know...NOW
- Instead of keeping an eye on them thru the window, I would pull up a chair and soak in the beauty of their little entrepreneurial spirit in motion.
- that my children are amazingly creative and think outside the box.
- that my children are not afraid of taking on any task and accomplishing their dreams.
- that my children believe they can do anything.
- That my children believe that their mom will drop everything to assist them.
- that my children know that I am their biggest fan.
- that I would give anything to have those sticky floors, counter-tops and trail out the door again.
The saying goes..... When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But I say... "Life is busy, sticky and messy, make lemonade anyway."