lessons from the lemonade stand

For days Liam has been asking to do a lemonade stand. Yesterday in sweltering humidity and 90 degree temps we pulled it together. Throughout the process there were many teachable moments that included math, manners and plain old common sense. I realized that I often assume too much about what my seven year old knows. Here are a few of the things "we" learned.

:: Count your change. Liam wanted to have change ready, so he thought he'd take out his bank (probably $10 of coins). It took a while to convince him that he might like to know how much he made from his lemonade stand and that this wouldn't be possible if he didn't know how much he was starting with. I gave him the option to tally every cup he sold or start with $2.00 in coins. He wisely chose to count the change. When he totaled up the take at the end of the night and easily subtracted the $2.00, he looked at me with that wow-you're-really-smart look and said, "That was a really good idea to just start with $2.00." I could totally homeschool.

:: Keep your prices low. Much thought went into pricing the lemonade. $1.00? 50 cents? 30 cents? Liam thought through all the options and finally landed on 25 cents a cup. This way "people who didn't have a lot of money" could still buy some and people who did have a lot of money could buy two cups. The great surprise was that there were people who paid a buck or more anyway. "I wasn't expecting tips," he said bewildered.


:: Decide on hiring practices. Liam asked one friend to help him man the stand and decided he'd pay him some of the money at the end. He wasn't, however, planning to hire the neighborhood. I heard him tell one friend, "It's okay if you want to pour it, but I'm not going to be able to pay you." Apparently no one minded working for free.

:: The customer comes first. When the first paying customers showed up for their lemonade, Liam poured a cup and started drinking it. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Having a drink," he said. I explained that he needed to take care of his customers first. "Oh," he said, like this had never even occurred to him.


:: Don't give away what you sell. This was advice my dad gave to me years ago, and although I don't always follow it, I've never forgotten it. Very kindly, Liam's friends paid for their drinks. His little brother, not so much. We brought water out for all the workers, though. That helped.

:: Keep your expectations in check. When the money was totaled last night, Liam's first response was to be a little disappointed, "I thought it was going to be $100." $100? For a three hour lemonade stand? So we figured out how many cups of 25 cent lemonade one would have to sell to earn $100. Quickly, he saw that $24.75 was a serious haul, from some seriously generous lemonade drinkers, including neighbors, guitar students and the postman. Of course, Liam wanted to run the stand again this afternoon. When I helped him see how much he'd need to spend to buy new supplies (as his nice mom wouldn't be footing the bill again) and pay the help, that it would be hot and humid again, and that his generous customers might have spent all their money at the stand yesterday, he decided to go swimming instead. Smart kid.