Teaching your kids how to work
Does Your Family & Summer Need a Snack Shack?
I don't know about you, but our summers consist of having lots of fun. Trying not to be tied down to a schedule, and having more fun. But even though during summers, we are busy doing many fun filled activities, my husband and I try to teach our kids some important life skills. We want them to learn to work! And in the summer, we want them to go "work" outside.
This summer, my daughter got her start earning how to run a small business. We invested in a cotton candy machine last summer and then this year, she decided to put it to good use. We started out serving our goodies to neighborhood kids and families on a simple card table on in front of the house. A short while in, business was booming and she enlisted some friends to jump on board. Just like that, she had her own small business. So between, cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn and the occasional soda and chips these cute girls were selling, we knew we needed to "upgrade" the card table and take these kids business to the next level.
We saw this cute drink stand on All Things Thrifty and LOVED the design. So the decision was made, if we built it, they would come, right?
If you have been reading my other blogs, you can guess where I went to gather all of the supplies? Of course, Lowes "What are you building now, Jeana?" I'm a regular. I get asked now every time I go to Lowes. It's s beautiful store. We have a love/hate relationship. This time I replied,"just teaching my kids how to start a business." It is important to teach them to make money so they can take care of us when we get older right?
After I gathered up all of my supplies with my awesome helpers, which included some casters (we knew we would want to move it around the neighborhood), plywood, a few 2x4's, cedar fencing and some awesome corrugated aluminum roofing material, we headed home to start the project. Things we do for our kids right?
Step 1 was deciding how big we wanted the structure to be, and then added the casters to the bottom of the shack.
Built up the sides and front, at this point it was starting to take shape.
We added the roof, and wrapped some 2x4's around it so we could put up our cute stained cedar fencing on to "dress" it up.
We spray painted some cute letters that we purchased from our local Hobby Lobby and centered those puppies on the front. My daughter picked out a cute purple color for a chalkboard and we attached that to the front for a menu. All in all, I think it turned out darling and the girls have already had success this year starting their first business. Snack shack, completed!! Now we wait for the residual checks to come in or we build more and franchise. JK!
Summer of 2016 these girls will never forget!
Jeana Proctor is a contributing blogger at PRIME RESIDENTIAL.
We are a boutique Real Estate Brokerage committed to educating our clients how to maximize profits when buying, selling and investing in real estate. We achieve this accord by serving our clients with the heart of a teacher.
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