Comments on: SUMMER CAMP, IN THE REAL WORLD

By: Liesa

Liesa — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:17:46 +0000

Jenni! This is remarkable stuff! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your good ideas and good experience! I’m blown away. Thank you thank you thank you! You really need to write a book about this. Think how many mothers could use a book of ideas and details for helping their children earn money during the summer. You should give it a try Jenni. Call me! I would love the chance to talk you into it.

By: Jenni Lee

Jenni Lee — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:28:09 +0000

Probably too late in the year for this, but when my kids were littler, they would pick our strawberries and I would help them make it into freezer jam. They sold this for $2 a pint and some of the neighbors came to depend on this each year.

My 7 year old made book marks out of clovers from our four-leaf-clover plant and had a stand out on the sidewalk to sell them for a quarter.

One neighbor has a shave ice maker and sno cone syrup. Her kids send a flyer around at different times throughout the summer for their ‘tiki ice’ stand. Another neighbor’s kids send a flyer around advertising their ‘kandy kart.’ The kids pull a cooler full of pop, candy, and ice cream treats around the neighborhood to sell those things. Definitely cheaper than the ice cream man, and we all like to help each other’s kids ‘work.’ One neighbor does a cookie stand (with homemade and storebought cookies, and cinnamon rolls.)

Day camp ideas-my girls pick a topic (bugs, colors, shapes, pet day, etc.) and structure the whole 2 hours around this theme. They start with play time, and then circle time and stories, a craft (a really good one since this is the part parents see when they take it home), activity (like a hike to find bugs, building shapes or letters with your body, etc.), a snack (sometimes one they make), and then cleanup/play. The last two classes are always camping day and swimming day. They set up the tent and go on a hike for camping day. For swimming day, they set up all the water toys they can think of and play in water the whole time and have popsicles. Easy!

By: Kristine

Kristine — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:42:17 +0000

Emily, I, like others of you out there don’t pay my children an allowance. I, like others also needed to find a way for the children to “earn” a little cash for themselfs for various things. When the children ask for money I ask them to help with “extra” chorse around the house, things I don’t always have time to get to; wipeing down all the base boards in the house – cleaning the exta bathrooms – pulling weeds – wiping the door jams or wiping the stair ballistars. If they want the money bad enough they will help. I hope this will help you some. (sorry about the spelling, people shouldn’t take drugs and type at the same time )

By: Liesa

Liesa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:33:39 +0000

Okay Emily! (I still hope others will share their ideas because you’ve brought up a tough question.) It’s hard to find ways for the little ones to earn money. My suggestion is to look for extra jobs that she could help with, something outside the normal household stuff. Maybe she could be ‘hired’ by her grandparents and do a small job for them. Maybe she could earn half, or some portion of the toy’s cost, and then you cover the balance and give your portion as a birthday or Christmas present. We’ve used that method more than once. Our girls did NOT love that plan but they learned that their parents were going to stick to a budget, even on their special day.

By: Liesa

Liesa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:10:28 +0000

Guys! Look at Emily’s comment and share your suggestions if you have any. I’ll be quiet.

By: Liesa

Liesa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:08:24 +0000

Thanks Laura and Joyce. The motivation and determination have proved to be great life-skills. When they asked for allowance I told them that as soon as I was getting paid for the work I did in the home, they would be getting paid. They caught the vision.

By: Liesa

Liesa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:04:00 +0000

Shoot Jenni, I did the same thing as your daughter and not only as a young girl but even as a young mother with children of my own. To be exact, I had two two-year-olds and a three and a half year old, oh and I was three months pregnant (waaaaaaahhhhh!) and Mike was a full-time student and also worked 40 hours a week. We still needed more funding so I set up my own day camp 2-3 times a week. Looking back it really was pretty nuts but it worked and got us through a very lean time. I wish you would share some ideas for activities and the way your daughter structured her play group. I bet we could all learn a few things from her success! Thanks

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:20:38 +0000

My oldest daughter is 5 years old, and is just getting interested in money. She has found a fairly expensive toy that she wants, and wants to save her money for it. She had gotten some money from her grandparents for her birthday. I didn’t really want to do an allowance with her, or really pay her for doing household stuff, because I think she should learn that by living in the house she has to contribute. What I am wondering is if you have any ideas for what a 5 year old could do to earn some money. I am more than willing to help her, and I am excited to see her wanting to save up for something, and I really want to help her, because I think learning young to save up for something you want is really important, I am just at a loss of what to do to help a 5 year old earn money.

By: Joyce

Joyce — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:59:08 +0000

Thanks, Liesa!

We have taught our children about money in a similar way. No allowance here either. Whatever money they receive for work or gifts must be tithed first and then a third goes to savings, a third to their education fund and a third is at their discretion. So far we’re happy with how well this method works to teach our children the value of a dollar.

Joyce

By: Jenni Lee

Jenni Lee — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:46:34 +0000

Another idea for Lizzie–when my daughter was 12, she and a friend handed out flyers for the Busy Bee Day Camp! 2-3 times a week for 3 or 4 weeks, they held an activity camp for kids ages 3 – 6. She charged $5 a camp (for two hours, that’s a STEAL on babysitting) and made $200 on this camp. She’s now almost 18 and working five days a week at Dairy Queen and 3 days a week for the city teaching kids’ cooking classes. Her 14-year-old sister has taken over the Busy Bee.