I try to encourage my children to use their intelligence to invent something or create something. We discuss money and how to make a profit as they get older.
Today, my daughter got that bee in her bonnet, and decided she wanted to sell some of her toys in a yard sale. I just let her run with the idea for a while as she made price labels for the various items to be sold. For example, she wanted to sell one of her Barbies, so she put a price tag on the doll for $6.00. She eventually finished and told me that she was ready to have her yard sale. Uhhh.. I had to think how we could create the yard sale environment for her. I set up a card table at the bottom of the driveway, and she put her toys on the table. We put a sign on the table showing that each item was a dollar (or less if the customer only had change). She eventually became okay with the price point as I had to explain that her original prices would likely have been too high for the average drive-by customer. She also had water bottles and cans of Coke for sell. Well, she ended up only having one customer, a young college girl who paid her $2.00 for a can of Coke, and that was within the first 5 minutes of opening up shop. My daughter eventually grew weary of the selling environment, but she learned some valuable business skills in the process. Not too shabby for a 7 year old. Of course, I’m not sure if she enjoyed the creating and planning aspect or just the fact that she could make money by doing so.
More house projects for the adults today. We’ve gotten quite a bit accomplished with my parents in town, so I should be in good shape starting school this week.