Shout Out to Lemonade Stands

The sun was out. The weather warm. And the flowers blooming. It was a perfect day for a lemonade stand on Saturday, and my kids were all over it. Over the last year, they've become lemonade stand pros. They have their own stand, their own company name, they even sell cookies to spice things up a bit.

It's been a great way for me to teach them about "business." I grew up in a family where my father and mother ran my dad's CPA practice. I ate, drank and slept small business USA ever since I could remember. One summer, Dad employed me. I was ten. I spent a whole summer shredding paper. I got a break every once in a while when I got to take out old pages in the tax books and replace them with new ones, but mostly, it was 8 hours a day of paper shredding. Which taught me something. By the end of that summer, I knew I SO VERY MUCH wanted to go to college so that I didn't end up spending my life shredding paper.

Being an author means I don't have the paper shredding to motivate my kids, but I do have the all-American entrepreneurial spirit. The lemonade stand is the one thing just about any kid can do that will, if they work at it, earn them some cold hard cash. What kid doesn't want that?

Mine check weather reports this time of year to see if Saturday is ideal lemonade stand material. They make sure we have supplies. They talk up the stand around the neighborhood a few days beforehand. Come Saturday, they have a booming business. Now, they usually end up having at least five kids working the stand/taking breaks to climb trees and play, which turns the whole business into a great way to spend the day outdoors. I'm proud of them. They always make sure and take out part of the profits to buy new supplies, and the divvy up the earnings evenly across all kids who work the stand. They've learned about profit and loss and supply and demand and neither is ten. And they didn't have to shred any paper!

Yeay, lemonade stand! I love lemonade stands!!!

Which made it all the sweeter when Kim Kasch nominated me for a Lemonade Stand Award for great Gratitude/ or attitude. Yippee!! Virtual Lemonade Stands. I love it.

To accept the award I have to share the Lemonade by --

1. Post the logo on my blog.
2. Nominate 10 blogs with great gratitude/attitude.
3. List and link my nominees.
4. Alert them of their nomination on their blog.

The 10 blogs I nominate are as follows --

1. Barrie Summy
2. P.J. Hoover at Roots in Myth
3. Becky Ramsey at Wonders Never Cease
4. Tressa at American in Norway
5. Joy at On Finding Balance
6. Christina Farley at Chocolate for Inspiration
7. Drunken Bee
8. Keri Mikulski
9. Sonia Marsh at Gutsy Writer

And, just to make sure Christina isn't alone on the other side of the globe,
10. Maureen Crisp

Shout out to lemonade stands both real and virtual. They are the best!