To let the kids setup a lemonade stand?

[Thenonstopcleaner]

DS and DD 9 & 7 are begging me to allow them to set up a lemonade stand this weekend. Some little kids on our street were selling their toys the other day just for pocket money and we bought some bits from them. So I am guessing this is where the idea has came from! I have said the only way I will let them do it is if the money goes to charity.
Both not happy about that at all! But that’s the only way.

Im not 100% keen on the idea and I know DH will flat out say no. Is it a bit cruel to say no?They aren’t very confident kids so I think it would be great for them.

(I remember painting nails for 20p out the front at a kid but everyone seemed much kinder back then).

Why do they need to give the money to charity, it’s a bit shit, if they do the work they should be able to keep it.

Kids round here often set up little stalls of old toys etc, we look and sometimes buy something. My kids also did a stall one time and sold a surprising amount of stuff! I have seen lemonade stands run by kids but I don’t buy from them due to hygiene!

My nine year old just asked her dad to make her a stand too!
Her and her friend are planing on making fidgets and cookies and lemonade to sell.
No idea how successful they’ll be!

Let them keep any money they make! Poor things, don't be such a killjoy! Its just a bit of fun they want to try. If they make it from scratch or sell cups from bottles what does it matter. Its nice they are out there trying something different instead of sitting indoors on screens. If they don't make any money they either won't do it again or maybe they will try a little bake sale next or clear out their rooms and do a brick a brack sale. Kids in our area have done things like this off and on for 20 years, its funny!

If they are making proper lemonade yes. Not if they're pouring Tesco lemonade into a cup and charging for it.

The children are learning confidence, communication, and the very basics of earning. Important life skills.

Yes, some people might feel a mild sense of obligation, but that’s true of a lot of everyday social interactions (charity asks, school raffles, colleagues’ fundraisers). Most adults are perfectly capable of saying “no thanks” nicely, and kids take that in their stride. If you feel trapped into handing over 50p to avoid disappointing an 8 year old, that’s probably more about your social anxiety than it is about the kid running a high-pressure sales operation.

When my kids had yard sales, plenty of people didn’t buy their tat but nearly everyone said hello and wished them luck. These small, low-stakes interactions are exactly the sort of thing that help build a sense of community, which a lot of people feel we’ve lost.

A boy did it near us last summer. It was fabulous! He was raising money for a cat and dog home “but only the cats” were his words 🤪 and his cats kept coming to the stall! Very good for business! We didn’t have enough change for two so he let us just pay what we could. I think he was running into a lot of the problem of people not carrying cash. He was set up on a residential street near-ish a bus stop. I think he could see his house from there and presumably his parents could see him.

So what if people feel awkward?

Making good lemonade from scratch is a lot of work. Do the kids realise this? Will they juice all those lemons, boil the sugar to turn it into syrup? My kid did this a couple of times when little but she is unusually self motivated. She did it for charity and not outside our house and the money went to the charity. We bought everything, all the lemons, dispensers, cups, bags of ice, containers to store the ice, cash box etc. I managed her in the kitchen to make sure everything remained hygienic. It was a big undertaking for a little kid but, as I say, she is hyper motivated and focused. It was a great experience for her. If we walked past a kids lemonade stand and had cash, we would absolutely buy some. As long as you all know it’s not a quick undertaking, I say go for it. It’s such a confidence booster and they’ll always remember it. 😊

You know in America kids just make it from sachets and everyone just gets into the spirit of it? It doesn’t have to be The Apprentice ffs

If you live in a 1980s American feel good film then fine. If not, no.

I find it a bit odd when people encourage children to sell stuff outside their house etc.

We used to do it all the time back in the late '50s/early'60s, we used to have a Barnados stall to sell things to donate to charity through our Barnardos houses that were a form of collecting box, a cardboard house.

It's harmless. I remember selling "perfume" with my friends.

Leave them on.

Well, it’s generally not considered a polite thing to do. Would you let your children approach people and ask for money and say ‘so what if they feel awkward?’

Everyone taking the approach of going through life avoiding making anyone feel awkward is the route to an incredibly restricted society that's intolerant and inflexible.

I think it's cute. What's the worst that can happen? I doubt they'll get complaints to the local food standards inspector?

You'd need loads of ice but making the lemonade is easy. Just water, lemon and sugar syrup. Just put a bit of boiling water into the sugar to make the syrup before adding lemon.

They’ll be sitting at a stall, selling lemonade. It’s not asking for money, it’s asking if they want to spend money on lemonade. Shopkeepers aren’t beggars.

Eh? They’re selling lemonade at a stand, not roaming the streets hustling.

We own a holiday house in the USA, and we do sometimes see kids selling homemade lemonade on the street (very quiet, no traffic).

I don’t see anything wrong with kids trying it here, but making lemonade here isn’t really a ‘thing’, so it might not be popular.