Lessons from the Lemonade Stand

For the last several weeks I have been observing local children and the way that they live their lives. It has been said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks but I have learned volumes.

The kids in my neighborhood can teach you a few lesson too, if you will listen. There are two little boys that live very close to me that have a lemonade stand. They have a booming business. Every Saturday they set up their card table on the side of the road, write some signs and spend the day selling their wares.

Last week, I decided to talk to them about their business. What I learned is something that we should all know. I asked them why they wanted to work on Saturdays and they told me that they were working to make money. I asked them what they wanted money for and they told me that they wanted it to buy things with it.

All of that sounded reasonable and smart and I went further. I asked them if they knew anything about social responsibility ? Their blank stares told me that they had never heard of it. I explained. "Social responsibility is giving back to the society that "allowed" you to make your money in the first place". More blank stares. I changed tactics and said "It means if you make money you have a responsibility to give some of it to someone else. It means that you share what you make with other people and that this means you're a good person". FINALLY!!! They responded. "it sounds like we would be a stupid person. Why should we give away our stuff?" I laughed and told them that they should use what they made to help others who had less. They looked at me like I had three heads and explained. "We are out here selling lemonade on Saturday. We have used our money to buy cups and lemons and to paint our sign with. Our friends are at the creek. They are swimming and playing while we work. They can have a lemonade stand, but they don't want to, and we don't want to give them our lemonade or our money"

How could I argue with that? These children seemed to know something that a lot of adults in our society miss. They understood the concept of value for value and they were out working for what they wanted. They didn't rail against capitalism, they embraced it.

I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. One of them said "a doctor" the other said "a basketball player". I asked them why. "To make money, doctors are rich" and "for the money, basketball players are richer than doctors" I asked them if they would want to do these things if they didn't get paid and they said "no".

By this time they were getting bored with my questions but I had to ask one more. I asked them if they didn't get paid for being a doctor or basketball player what would they want to be. Without skipping a beat they answered "someone else's social responsibility."

Smart Kids.