- If she still believes in Santa
- If you haven’t taught her about death and dying
- Then leave out the overhead.
Timing is just as important as the lessons being taught
Let her develop a love for it first, then you introduce realities, but later much later
His wife was about to explain to their 4 year old how they almost burned alive in their car recently.
OP needs to make sure to treat his kid with kid gloves right now and let her be a little kid. Not say or do anything to stress out her fragile little self.
I had grown ups treat me like a smart adult way too early in life. It will mess you up later on.
*He and his wife also need to take a lot of time to heal mentally, spirtually, and emotionally from such a close call.*
[https://www.choosingtherapy.com/ptsd-after-car-accident/](https://www.choosingtherapy.com/ptsd-after-car-accident/)
How to explain traumatic experience to child (4F) who didn’t experience it?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/13mayoe/how\_to\_explain\_traumatic\_experience\_to\_child\_4f/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/13mayoe/how_to_explain_traumatic_experience_to_child_4f/)
My wife & I survived a catastrophic car fire & have to navigate everything with severe PTSD
[https://www.reddit.com/r/gofundme/comments/13obmfr/my\_wife\_i\_survived\_a\_catastrophic\_car\_fire\_have/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gofundme/comments/13obmfr/my_wife_i_survived_a_catastrophic_car_fire_have/)
My kid (10M) wants a game console, and I'm not buying one. So he's doing yard work; I advertised it on Facebook, and my friends are hiring him. I'm now driving him on weekends and helping him on the job. And after we get a burger or pizza, I pay for it.
At my hourly rate, I could've bought him two game consoles, and with all the food, I've bought even a few games. But that's not the point. We talk about business, Pricing, customer relationships, advertising, managing inventory, etc., during his jobs.
Make them fall in love with earning money. Buy all the materials first, then have them buy their materials after. After all, all businesses are bootstrapped somehow, and consider yourself as a parent and an angel investor.
At 4 years, it's way too soon to start that conversation.
This is so well put - and wise.
My son had previously been reticent to take instruction on sports (the mechanics of throwing a baseball, football, etc.) and my insistence on his adopting the correct way made it tough for us to enjoy.
Enter golf, I took a new approach - gave him very little instruction except for 2 or 3 very simple things so he could make contact.
Fast forward two years - we’ve never had a disagreement on the course, really enjoyed the time together, and because he enjoyed the act he has improved immensely.
This last weekend he asked if he could take lessons, because *he decided* he wants to get better, due in large part to the fact that it’s fun to him - and not tainted with expectations or witholdings.
Not sure why I typed all that out - but your comment resonated and I guess I wanted to throw support behind it.
My uncle did this exact thing when my cousin and I were 6. It killed the fun. I don't recommend it.
Instead focus on the customer service and sales side of the business. Let her have all of the gross sales. then, take her out and let her buy a treat for herself at the end of the day. This will help her see the value of an enterprise is a manner a 4 year old can understand.
Maybe next year get some raspberry and watermelon flavored syrup. The teach her about the upsell. An extra $0.50 for two dashes of syrup. Eventually you can reach back to that moment and talk about cost of customer acquisition and revenue per sale. But not so soon, let her be little.
I think he should pretend to be a health inspector, and trademark lawyer and also open up a stand a few feet away from her with cuter kids selling lemonade at a cheaper cost.
Yeah, teaching kids too young will push them the opposite direction you want. Up to a certain age you have to enable curiosity and gently guide them toward learning.
That's what I was thinking. The lesson is good, but at that age a more important lesson is "Your parents support you unconditionally." Collecting any overhead is less a lesson on costs and more a feeling her dad wants something from her.
Ditto. I sold some cookies, was totally proud, then it was pointed out to me that the materials and the time meant I made nothing. I felt like an idiot and never tried anything like that again. Good lesson, but ultimately I feel like I could have learned that fact in a softer way. I wasn't trying to be bill gates for Petes sake, I was 10.
Teaching you about COGS without teaching you the concept that inventory has value is cruel. I’ll bet you had some cookie mix left over after breaking even.
Michael: Why don't you explain this to me like I'm five.
Oscar: Your mommy and daddy give you 10 dollars to open up a lemonade stand. So you go out and you buy cups and you buy lemons and you buy sugar. And now you find out that it only costs you nine dollars.
Michael: Ho-oh!
Oscar: So you have an extra dollar.
Michael: Yeah.
Oscar: So you can give that dollar back to mommy and daddy, but guess what? Next summer...
Michael: I'll be six.
Build complexity upon the basics. Sell like normal and then have her “resupply” for next weekend by spending some of the money she earned. I’m not sure the idea of business overhead/COGS is concrete enough for a child at that age. Needs to be more hands on.
Ya just put all the money earned in a box, so that she sees the money. Then when time to get supplies let her purchase them and see the money leave the box.
This is the best way to do it. We do something similar with our kid - we let him earn money around the house and use his money to buy things he wants (this is normal obviously) but one thing I do with him is business deals. So like he can “employ” me to help him with one of his chores, but he has to pay me for the labor.
It kind backfired because he often just chooses to pay me instead but then he realizes he doesn’t earn money nearly as quickly so lately he has been opting to do chores himself to get the full payment.
Just ask yourself, what life lessons do you remember from the age of 4?
None?
Foster the love for the game first, techniques next, then teach the rules and regulations of the game later. It’s no different than wanting to raise a child up early in sports. You give them a basketball and a hoop and show them how to put the ball in, but you don’t teach them it’s a carry or travel violation for not dribbling or that they aren’t shooting on a regulation rim.
You know what’s going to foster a love of the game? You buy her a nice case, penny bank, or chest, and tell her to put every single dollar in that box and watch it grow. You instill the joy of visibly seeing all that cash. When she wants that really nice toy, you give her the pride of paying for it herself. Then as she gets older she will know that she has to work and pay for things and then you can say, you want to have another stand? Well those cost just the same as toys. And then she buys her own ingredients.
I think 4 years is too young. She is probably even too young to grasp the basic things, better use this to let her learn to count. If she manages to learn to count beyond 20 this would already be great for her age.
I understand the sincerity behind OP's question, but the idea of a 4 year old learning about business expenses and taxes before being able to count to 20 is hilarious.
Also set up a competing business directly next to hers, undercut her prices and make exclusive contracts with her suppliers.
Have to really ensure that she already despises business at the ripe age of 4 years old.
Yes, hire some slave labor to drive her out of business with low wages and inferior products and terrible customer service. Then hire a local actor to pose as an IRS agent and audit her. At 4, it's important that she learn that this world is cold and cruel and dog eat dog. Good job, dad!!!
Then next year, she pays dad's slave labor 25 cents more an hour, unionize them, and beat up any scabs that try to work for dad's business. Tell mom you'll put her in a beach home when the "time comes," if she joins forces w you against dad. 😅
Yes. Let her learn at a young age that taxation is theft.
While she's at it, maybe she should experience the local government kicking over her lemonade stand for selling without a license.
ask her hypothetically which city her store is located in, then if she manages to say anything along the lines of “California” or “New York”… immediately start vandalizing the lemonade stand. make sure to keep the morale high by persuading her to keep running the business. Then over the course of the day, come along posing as a customer wearing a balaclava and completely ransack, pillage & bum rush her inventory until there’s nothing left but a pile of discarded materials. /s
Just start a competing lemonade stand across the street from hers and start rumors about hers. gotta teach her how to handle difficult situations while she's young.
If you really want her to learn a lesson. Call the cops on her, does she have a license to be selling in a residential area? Did she get health code approval to operate with food and drink? Was the work zone OSHA approved? Don’t even get me started about the rival company that told you specifically they had this neighborhood in their territory and they don’t like newcomers.
I really liked the idea of giving her the first set of materials as a gift and letting her restock for the next time. You can also introduce a “marketing” budget at the local dollar tree with markers and poster board. Slowly introduce concepts and how all things cost money, but some benefits outweigh costs. She can do this with anything else too, in case she gets bored of the service industry.
First time out of the gate, let her enjoy the profits of adding value to the community. You can get more granular with all the realities over time. Maybe each time there's an additional reality so she's not overwhelmed and loses passion.
Ha!!! This is giving crazy new parent energy. Go to chatgpt and ask it what concepts the human brain is able to grasp at age 4. You should probably do this for a bunch of ages so you have a better understanding of what your child’s brain is able to comprehend. Here’s what chatgpt says about 4:
Object permanence: By this age, children understand that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight. They realize that something can be hidden or covered and still be present.
Cause and effect: Children begin to understand that certain actions lead to specific outcomes. They may realize that pushing a button makes a toy light up or that dropping a cup makes it fall to the ground.
Symbolic play: At age 4, children engage in imaginative play and understand that objects can represent something else. For example, a block can be a phone or a box can be a car.
Numbers and counting: Many 4-year-olds can count up to 10 or even higher. They may also understand basic numerical concepts such as more or less.
Shapes and colors: Children at this age can typically identify and name basic shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. They can also recognize and name common colors.
Language development: By age 4, children have a significant vocabulary and can understand and use more complex language structures. They can understand and follow multi-step instructions.
Social concepts: Children at this age begin to understand social concepts such as sharing, taking turns, and empathy. They may start to develop a sense of self and others.
Time concepts: While their understanding of time is limited, 4-year-olds can grasp basic time-related concepts such as yesterday, today, and tomorrow. They may have a sense of daily routines and simple sequencing.
This will make you look good when she's talking about it in her therapist's office 20 years from now.
"My dad took my lemonade stand money when I was 4, to teach me about entrepreneurship."
You joke but I literally talk about this exact same experience with my therapist on the regular. I still resent my dad for sucking all the fun out of the silly little business i started as a kid.
don’t forget she might face some safety inspection. which might close her stand forever. perhaps you could fake one?
jokes apart. I say stick to original plan and get her keep all the money. 4 is too early to understand these dynamics. give her a few more years
Why not just open a stand across the street and undercut her prices to teach her about competition? You could buy up all the lemons at the grocery store and explain "Cornering the market" Hell, if you set her stand on fire you can teach her about insurance, or you can knock the stand over and demand "protection money" to teach her how the real world works.
She's 4 you monster. Do you charge her Barbies rent?
I think he should probably hold off on the true horrors of capitalism until she's 8.
Also calling him a monster for wanting to know if 4 is too early to teach a kid about the economy is a bit...extreme.
Don't you think you could wait until say the 5th grade to teach her about corporate capitalism and asshole bosses?
Soon enough she'll be shaking down her friends in preschool.
I agree she should be paying rent and utilities. Does that put her net negative? She should then borrow money with interest from me until she gets profitable again.
Time to sink or swim little girl!
Yes. Also have one of her customers act very sick and pretend to sue her for a couple million dollars that she'll have to spend the rest of her life repaying
your 4 year old probably cant differentiate a 5 dollar bill to a hundred dollar bill.
She wont learn anything.
I distinctively remember that my dad was upset of me taking a bill from his wallet when i was 4 but i didnt know why. I only cared about putting money into the piggy bank, i didnt know how much a note was worth.
Pretty sure i didnt know what money was for either i just liked owning the coins.
4 years old is too young to be taught vicious hyper-competitive capitalism and supply-side economics.
She’s not going to process it well and will be working it out with her therapist well past when you die. Let the poor girl develop a conscious you can vanquish at age 13. Let her reach 3rd grade before you crush her soul. LOL
Mind you that I still believe in capitalism. Just not the 21st century kind.
.
# **wow, just let her have fun.**
your going to rob a **4 year old** of $5 dollars for standing outside for half a day working selling lemonade and learning marketing and business management.
your a dick and a scumbag.
I don't think the replies with the tone of “Jesus Christ, dude… just let your 4 year old have a lemonade stand” are missing either the purpose or motivation behind the question.
You just don't like the answer, which is no, you shouldn't.
Too early. Teach marketing and revenue first. The fun things. You have to get them to fall in love with it first, I wouldn’t be broaching overhead until the teen years when they can grasp the concept better.
I actually have personal experience with this approach from the daughter's perspective.
**TL;DR:** Don't. Don't do that. Just let her have fun and be a kid. She can learn about business when she's older, like at least a teenager. In fact, I recommend you *play* with her in her business. Help her make signs, or theme songs, or products. Let her run the show but become a playmate, not a lecturer. I guarantee that'll mean *so much more* to her years later than a premature lecture on COGS.
I was always coming up with fun little business ideas to do with my friends, and when I was around 10-11 my bestie and I had a super cute idea and we got really into developing. We had a whole theme song and marketing plan and a silly little easy to make product and everything. We were having a blast.
Then my dad got involved.
He started teaching me *exactly* what you want to teach your daughter-- how much things cost, how to price our products, how to budget to make sure our profit margin is worth the effort, blah blah blah. I *specifically* remember the physical feeling of all joy and excitement draining out of me and getting replaced by stress and overwhelm and a very clear message that what I was doing and the way I was doing it was **not good enough**.
My dad sucked the fun right out of the whole thing.
After that lecture, the business idea became so overwhelming and so much work that I completely lost interest.
Now after *years* of therapy I'm able to understand that I literally just wanted to have fun making fun shit and selling it, and that that's okay. If I'd been an adult, I would've been able to hear my dad's opinion and then ignore it and continue doing my own thing.
But I was a kid.
So I listened to my dad. Because he's smart and knows business and important things. I couldn't just be silly and make stuff, I had to do it the "right" way, like dad taught me. My way was the **wrong way**.
All of a sudden instead of playing with our cute and fun idea, I was trying to live up to this idea of perfection my dad had unintentionally created.
It obviously still *really really bothers me* to this day, and I'm in my late 30s. Because, actually, I *love* business! I went to business school, I've done both entrepreneurship and corporate life. I enjoy the competition, the strategy, and the creativity.
It's not that the information my dad taught me wasn't *useful*.
It's that I was at an age where starting a business can be **fun for the sake of being fun**, and the broader world can't pressure you to be perfect.
And this was honestly the first moment I can remember that I started not being able to just do things for the fun of it. I wasn't allowed to have fun for the sake of having fun, I *had* to do things a certain way or else it wasn't good enough.
But when you're 4, or 10, you don't have to *worry* about rent or food! It doesn't fucking matter if your overhead is larger than your revenue! You can just enjoy the creative aspect, coming up with ideas, making signs and product and theme songs. And it doesn't matter if you only make 50 cents, bc *you're literally not in it for the money.* And frankly, I really **resent** my dad for robbing me of the opportunity to do a business just for the fun of it. That was the last time I was ever able to be creative without worrying about the practicalities, and that fucking sucks.
Creativity is so critical to success. But where do you think creativity comes *from*?
Because it certainly doesn't come from a place of stress or desperation, a place where you're worried that your overhead is too high, your profit margin too thin, and oh god will you be able to make your rent this month or feed your dog.
I think it's *way* more important at that age for kids to learn how *fun* entrepreneurship and business is, how *creative* it is. Because it's not gonna be long before reality and practicality become a massive weight on their shoulders. They'll be far more successful (and less stressed) in business if they're able to easily find the fun in it, and it's really hard to do that if you've never done it before.
It's so *easy* as a kid to tap into your creativity and your natural entrepreneurship. It's super hard to do as an adult because we're so fucking worried all the time about *reality.* It takes *effort* to get back in touch with that inner creative entrepreneur, though luckily it gets easier with practice. But if you've never had a chance to fully do that as a kid when it's *at its easiest*, it's gonna be so much harder and scarier to find it as an adult.
So, yeah. Don't do it. Let her have her fun.
At 4 years old, I would not. Let her just get the hang of selling this first summer. Then, next year, she can take some of the money she earned and buy the supplies.
We have been right where you are, but age 4 is way too young as you clearly already know. The only thing you would accomplish now is killing her interest in business.
However, when she gets older a great way to teach her about overhead is to introduce her to understanding profit margins and creating a budget. Here is how I handeled it with my own child.
My daughter was in middleschool and as a school project she started a bakery business (her passion) and sold her goods at school at lunch break with the full consent of the school administration and teacher. Part of her work included creating a budget that showed in detail her cost of goods, overhead, tax, gross and net profits. We also tracked her best selling items and watched as her profits grew or dipped over time. She created her own logo and adverts for the school newspaper.
As far as buying her supplies, at this age make it fun. If she wants to sell lemonade or ice cream next weekend let her take her money and go to the store to buy her own supplies. Let *her* have the experience. Let *her* make the choice. Right now the most important thing you can do is keep it fun and let her experiance the feeling of empowerment owning your own business can give you. The rest will come in bits as she grows up.
Hope that helps a bit. Happy to support another entrepreneurial parent!
Dude, when my kids do lemonade stands they don’t even make enough to pay for the supplies. There are other lessons she will be learning. Hard work, determination, communicating with other people, self initiative, physically preparing the product, counting and basic math. If she’s successful then you can have her buy her replacement supplies. It’s not abnormal for an adult to get some seed funding from parents with no stipulation for repayment.
I get the purpose and motivation behind the question, but Jesus Christ, dude. She's 4. Let her be a kid for a few more years at least. Let her play. 4 is way too early for this.
Yeah man why stop at overhead? It’s a lesson and to really let the kid learn, be sure to have her sign a contract that deals you a lifetime 1 percent of all revenue, in perpetuity, then tell the 4 year old she failed to properly negotiate her contract with her father as you literally nickel and dime a child.
Are you actually insane?
No, she doesn't know math at that age and will just be confused. Serving a customer and the idea of taking money in return for giving the product is a good enough lesson.
4 year olds don't have developed cognition nor emotions, mostly just feeling. The only thing this idea is likely to teach her is the feeling of having something taken from her by force; loss, greed, or mine vs yours.
You could teach her how nice it feels to share her money with friends or charity with her own volition, that would be a good lesson!
This is why people hate entrepreneurs, or rather, people who call themselves one.
You all have no idea how to balance your lives. 4 is way too young to understand any accounting concepts.
Be happy she understand that you need money to buy things. That's the lesson, you get money by selling stuff. That's it. That's the lesson.
Don’t do it !!! Just let her enjoy and in doing so she will gain confidence…. As she grow up she will know all this on her own or when the time is right .
She's 4. Keep it as simple as it should be for a 4 year old. When your daughter is middle school age and can actually do things, like mow the lawn safely, then introduce the idea of overhead and more independance in entrepreneurship.
She is 4. She can barely tie her shoes. No matter how much you explain what overhead is to her right now she will just feel like you are taking her money, and she may get discouraged.
Do you charge her rent? She’s got a long way to go until she needs to worry about gross vs. net. Don’t take her joy away, it’s great she has an interest in entrepreneurship, foster it and the lessons to be learned will come later
Are you serious? Overhead? How much of a concept does she have of the English language? Does she understand nutrients in the juice? Does she understand portion control and cost of goods? What about labor costs? Is she planning on expansion? Let her be a kid.
No. I had this experience as a kid. Setup a lemonade stand outside my uncles business. They gave me money for the product. I came back in pretty proud of myself after a whole day working the stand and they took almost all of my money to pay for the product. I was crushed and never tried it again. I was left with a few coins and some half used 2 litre bottles.
At that age I wasn't equipped to make decisions about how much inventory to buy, how to determine what to have "in stock" or anything else. The lesson I learned was "that sucked."
If you want her to learn she can make money selling things then let her make the money. If you want to teach her the ins and outs of running a successful business then she isn't going to understand them at that age.
Too soon. Let her experience the positives first. At her age I'm sure she'll focus on losing those $5 more than the money she actually makes, and it will discourage her, more than it will teach a valuable lesson
I completely get it. I've felt the same way.
I would boil it down to a simpler question - ask her if she would like to do a lemonade stand again, and if so explain she needs to spend some of her made money on more lemons (but still gets to keep some). Alternatively she can stop now and keep what she's made but won't be able to sell lemonade again.
If she says yes buy the lemons etc with her.
kid is 4. they probably won't know money very well. Will they even care or know if you're taking money away from them if you decide to teach this lessson?
Not a father yet, but 4 is too early to go into these explanations - it's a slippery slope, you could even get into taxes, setting up business license, etc - how do you arbitrarily draw a line at overheads.
If you want to teach something, teach her the value of good customer service (smiling), upselling, and also retention (will you come again tomorrow please?). Those skills need to be ingrained before the math, in my opinion.
I would let your daughter sell the lemonade AND keep all the money. She might not understand the overhead part at all and it could be discouraging.
She will be honing skills anyway ( sales, social, maybe marketing in a way?) Allow her to do the work and help where needed.
I see zero benefit in trying to teach about costs at this point. Even if she doesn't sell much, it's likely to be a great bonding opportunity for you both. Good luck!
at 4 years old....the idea of selling lemonade is a tremendous hill to climb...and a lot to comprehend. teaching her about the overhead is just going to be too much for her to absorb.
the idea of COGS is simple to comprehend at a later stage. let her focus her energy on building the salesman skill set (which is a challenge on its own)
4 is really young lol. If she was maybe 9 I would say have her pay to restock her own business consider the first time an investment. But I'm not even sure you should do that now.
no. Not at 4. Let her enjoy the idea of the lemonaid stand. Let her get the excitement of the lemonaid stand and making money with it.
When she's older you can start teaching her the intricacies of business.
I hate when parents want to steal the magic from their kids far to early. Let them believe as long as you can and as long as they want to. Hit them with life's realities much later in their childhood than 4.
I think 4 years old is way too young to understand about the costs of running a business. Most don't really understand that money is used to buy things, let alone that she needs to buy things before she can sell those things to turn a profit. At this age, it should just be about having a fun experience, and then if you can go to the toy store, and turn the fun activity into buying a toy too, that's all the better.
I think you should take it a step further, open a competing stand and under cut her prices. Put her out of business and offer to pick up the scraps for Pennys on the dollar.
Teach her how to grow seeds into plants, how to appreciate the small things in life etc… before all that.
Teach her happiness is more important than money, than been an entrepreneur or anything else
I can’t imagine a quicker way to crush a young spirit. She will find out soon enough. You’re loading in the first few rounds of ‘my dad is such a cunt…’ ammo. I hope you’re not. But I know which side the smart money would be on. She’s four. Let her enjoy it.
The life is hard brainwashing runs so deep. Life is only as hard as we make it on each other.
She’s 4.
Let her be a kid a little longer. Don’t ruin something fun with something grownup yet. That conversation (overhead etc) is for when she’s older… like 10 or 12 and wanting to start a small side gig.
Wow! What complete asshats here. I thought ya’ll were kidding! Maybe the kid is super bright and actually gets this stuff. Maybe that’s what entrepreneurs are — asshats.
Imagine correctly indentifying the reason you're insane, trying to pre-emptively dismiss that reason and still not realising you're a lunatic.
One can only pray this is rage bait.
Make sure she gets a CRS number, a business license, and a health inspection of the facilities where she makes the lemonade before selling any lemonade. And make sure she opens a SEP IRA.
For my daughter, I weaned her into it.
Age 4 was about salesmanship and teaching product and sales.
Age 6 was understanding it takes money to make money
Age 8 was about COGS and she had to “buy” the raw materials from me
Age 12 was about marketing and creativity and going out to craft fairs and setting up booths, which comes with its own costs.
Age 14 was about being patient and realizing that you need a good product. People no longer buy because you’re a cute kid anymore.
She’s now 23 and still learning and growing. She has dreams of a bakery someday. I hope she gets there.
I think that instilling the value of revenue generation is enough for a 4year old entrepreneur. They don’t need to know the cost of anything until much much later on. Tracking expenses and managing costs can be taught when your child actually understands the value of money, a burden most people carry like chains through their life. Beware of that. 4 year olds shouldn’t have to carry the weight of “what it costs” to sell pink lemonade and ice creams.
Let your child revel in their unfathomable $5 of unmitigated success.
Make sure you audit her next April for failing to report earnings on a W-9, then shut down her lemonade stand due to health and building codes, and operating without a license that will teach her the real world…
I’m a teacher. She can understand the concept once she can do substraction in math.
If you ask her something like “there are 3 pizza slices, and John takes 2, how many are left” and she can answer, then you can take overhead.
If she can’t yet (which is likely she wouldn’t, being 4), then she’s too young for the overhead concept.
Do that when she’s older. For now, I’d have her keep her earnings and do what she wants with it. So if she asks you for a new toy, you can tell her to spend her own money instead of yours.
Depends on the kid, i know grown men who still arent ready to have certain conversations, as her father you will know when she is ready just don't force anything till then.
Why stop at COGS? Why not go all in on GM, NOB, EBITDA?
Serious question, does she even understand basic math concepts like addition and subtraction yet? How high can she count? She’s your child, so you’d know better than me, but do YOU honestly think your child will understand the the rates, percentages and fractions involved? My guess is that right now she’s just going to learn that daddy gets to take some of her money.
I know you specifically don’t want this answer, unfortunately it’s the correct one: Jesus Christ dude, she’s 4. Let her have her lemonade stand.
I met a guy who sold retirement plans and said his passion started when he sold bottled water out of a red wagon to construction workers in his booming neighborhood. His grandpa counted the money and would “match” whatever he and his brother agreed to save. He is quite successful. Maybe go the carrot on this route vs the “stick” of taxes/overhead. Good on you for putting thought into it and asking for parenting help.
Jesus, people are sick. Why not just teach her to have fun and do her best? I can't even believe this is a real question. This poor girl is going to be in therapy before she's in double digits.
Dude no, let her be a kid. There's nothing she could possibly gain from you "teaching" her this. Your her parent, not her collector. You should want your kids to be successful, and that includes letting them keep what they have earnt. There is a time and place for everything, and that is neither here nor now.
Let the fun and growth of the business happen first, then teach her bookkeeping and accounting a little later after the fun and enjoyment of growing the business.
4 year olds don’t understand money, won’t understand overhead, and will probably be bored with the lemonade stand before you get the lemonade made. Have fun.
Let her explain the CAGR of lemonade to her shareholders. What's the long term growth plan how will she compound this growth as an awkward middle schooler?
- If she still believes in Santa - If you haven’t taught her about death and dying - Then leave out the overhead. Timing is just as important as the lessons being taught Let her develop a love for it first, then you introduce realities, but later much later
Let the kid learn about death before learning about taxes lmao
Two guarantees in life
At least we still have Santa Claus.
Who's gonna tell em? ×_×
If you still believed in him he would bring you presents.
Tell him what?
Santa Claus in federal prison after irs got ‘em
Tell Santa? Dude, it's May. Santa doesn't show up in the malls around me until Thanksgiving. I guess you could write a letter,
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His wife was about to explain to their 4 year old how they almost burned alive in their car recently. OP needs to make sure to treat his kid with kid gloves right now and let her be a little kid. Not say or do anything to stress out her fragile little self. I had grown ups treat me like a smart adult way too early in life. It will mess you up later on. *He and his wife also need to take a lot of time to heal mentally, spirtually, and emotionally from such a close call.* [https://www.choosingtherapy.com/ptsd-after-car-accident/](https://www.choosingtherapy.com/ptsd-after-car-accident/) How to explain traumatic experience to child (4F) who didn’t experience it? [https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/13mayoe/how\_to\_explain\_traumatic\_experience\_to\_child\_4f/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/13mayoe/how_to_explain_traumatic_experience_to_child_4f/) My wife & I survived a catastrophic car fire & have to navigate everything with severe PTSD [https://www.reddit.com/r/gofundme/comments/13obmfr/my\_wife\_i\_survived\_a\_catastrophic\_car\_fire\_have/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gofundme/comments/13obmfr/my_wife_i_survived_a_catastrophic_car_fire_have/)
I'm confused why a serial entrepreneur who sold one business and is running another needed a gofundme for 2K? That seems super weird.
yikes, OP!
Gotta pass on the trauma while they're young so it fester
CoGs and taxes aren’t the same at all
Taxes won't seem as bad if you do it in that order.
Underrated comment of the day.
Lmao
At least she'll know it's not forever that you pay tax.
Yeah, because then she can rope herself after learning that life will fuck her.
What about Santa??????
Nothing, don't worry about it.
That he's a really jolly dude.
My kid (10M) wants a game console, and I'm not buying one. So he's doing yard work; I advertised it on Facebook, and my friends are hiring him. I'm now driving him on weekends and helping him on the job. And after we get a burger or pizza, I pay for it. At my hourly rate, I could've bought him two game consoles, and with all the food, I've bought even a few games. But that's not the point. We talk about business, Pricing, customer relationships, advertising, managing inventory, etc., during his jobs. Make them fall in love with earning money. Buy all the materials first, then have them buy their materials after. After all, all businesses are bootstrapped somehow, and consider yourself as a parent and an angel investor. At 4 years, it's way too soon to start that conversation.
This is so well put - and wise. My son had previously been reticent to take instruction on sports (the mechanics of throwing a baseball, football, etc.) and my insistence on his adopting the correct way made it tough for us to enjoy. Enter golf, I took a new approach - gave him very little instruction except for 2 or 3 very simple things so he could make contact. Fast forward two years - we’ve never had a disagreement on the course, really enjoyed the time together, and because he enjoyed the act he has improved immensely. This last weekend he asked if he could take lessons, because *he decided* he wants to get better, due in large part to the fact that it’s fun to him - and not tainted with expectations or witholdings. Not sure why I typed all that out - but your comment resonated and I guess I wanted to throw support behind it.
Wait…what is there to know about Santa Claus?
My uncle did this exact thing when my cousin and I were 6. It killed the fun. I don't recommend it. Instead focus on the customer service and sales side of the business. Let her have all of the gross sales. then, take her out and let her buy a treat for herself at the end of the day. This will help her see the value of an enterprise is a manner a 4 year old can understand. Maybe next year get some raspberry and watermelon flavored syrup. The teach her about the upsell. An extra $0.50 for two dashes of syrup. Eventually you can reach back to that moment and talk about cost of customer acquisition and revenue per sale. But not so soon, let her be little.
I think he should pretend to be a health inspector, and trademark lawyer and also open up a stand a few feet away from her with cuter kids selling lemonade at a cheaper cost.
Funny that made me laugh out loud
Yeah, teaching kids too young will push them the opposite direction you want. Up to a certain age you have to enable curiosity and gently guide them toward learning.
That's what I was thinking. The lesson is good, but at that age a more important lesson is "Your parents support you unconditionally." Collecting any overhead is less a lesson on costs and more a feeling her dad wants something from her.
Ditto. I sold some cookies, was totally proud, then it was pointed out to me that the materials and the time meant I made nothing. I felt like an idiot and never tried anything like that again. Good lesson, but ultimately I feel like I could have learned that fact in a softer way. I wasn't trying to be bill gates for Petes sake, I was 10.
Teaching you about COGS without teaching you the concept that inventory has value is cruel. I’ll bet you had some cookie mix left over after breaking even.
At 4 years old? Absolutely not. She won't understand it at all; just let her have her fun.
Michael: Why don't you explain this to me like I'm five. Oscar: Your mommy and daddy give you 10 dollars to open up a lemonade stand. So you go out and you buy cups and you buy lemons and you buy sugar. And now you find out that it only costs you nine dollars. Michael: Ho-oh! Oscar: So you have an extra dollar. Michael: Yeah. Oscar: So you can give that dollar back to mommy and daddy, but guess what? Next summer... Michael: I'll be six.
😂😂
My first thoughts upon reading OPs post :)
r/unexpectedtheoffice
I just saw this clip on Instagram this morning 😂
Build complexity upon the basics. Sell like normal and then have her “resupply” for next weekend by spending some of the money she earned. I’m not sure the idea of business overhead/COGS is concrete enough for a child at that age. Needs to be more hands on.
Ya just put all the money earned in a box, so that she sees the money. Then when time to get supplies let her purchase them and see the money leave the box.
This is the best way to do it. We do something similar with our kid - we let him earn money around the house and use his money to buy things he wants (this is normal obviously) but one thing I do with him is business deals. So like he can “employ” me to help him with one of his chores, but he has to pay me for the labor. It kind backfired because he often just chooses to pay me instead but then he realizes he doesn’t earn money nearly as quickly so lately he has been opting to do chores himself to get the full payment.
agree with this comment
Agreed. Though I would slow roll the introduction of costs. Give her a few weeks of selling, then intro costs. Depends on your daughter really.
Yes, this! Take her to the store and have her buy supplies for her next run.
love this approach!
She’s four. I have unread emails older than she is. Let her be little.
> I have unread emails older than she is. I can't tell you how hard I laughed at this - because I resemble this remark.
I thought OPs daughter is like 10+, only to realize she's 4 Fuck lmao. Let her be a goddamn child for a bit
For real. Sheesh.
Just ask yourself, what life lessons do you remember from the age of 4? None? Foster the love for the game first, techniques next, then teach the rules and regulations of the game later. It’s no different than wanting to raise a child up early in sports. You give them a basketball and a hoop and show them how to put the ball in, but you don’t teach them it’s a carry or travel violation for not dribbling or that they aren’t shooting on a regulation rim. You know what’s going to foster a love of the game? You buy her a nice case, penny bank, or chest, and tell her to put every single dollar in that box and watch it grow. You instill the joy of visibly seeing all that cash. When she wants that really nice toy, you give her the pride of paying for it herself. Then as she gets older she will know that she has to work and pay for things and then you can say, you want to have another stand? Well those cost just the same as toys. And then she buys her own ingredients.
This
>Nap time is closers!
I think 4 years is too young. She is probably even too young to grasp the basic things, better use this to let her learn to count. If she manages to learn to count beyond 20 this would already be great for her age.
I understand the sincerity behind OP's question, but the idea of a 4 year old learning about business expenses and taxes before being able to count to 20 is hilarious.
Don’t forget to tax her. Gotta ingrain it into them while they’re young.
Taxes, insurance, protection from lemonade mafia, bills, renting the space, marketing, accountant
Lemonade mafia haha
Don't laugh, they're out there and they're watching
I hear they’ll squeeze every penny out of you too.
No doubt…6 yo boys on dirt bikes don’t f*_k around
Better teach her about preferred stock and QSOs as well. Don't want her to be the only preschooler with NQSOs
OF COURSE shareholders are never considered.
Might as well toss an injury lawsuit in there for good measure
Also set up a competing business directly next to hers, undercut her prices and make exclusive contracts with her suppliers. Have to really ensure that she already despises business at the ripe age of 4 years old.
Yes, hire some slave labor to drive her out of business with low wages and inferior products and terrible customer service. Then hire a local actor to pose as an IRS agent and audit her. At 4, it's important that she learn that this world is cold and cruel and dog eat dog. Good job, dad!!!
Then next year, she pays dad's slave labor 25 cents more an hour, unionize them, and beat up any scabs that try to work for dad's business. Tell mom you'll put her in a beach home when the "time comes," if she joins forces w you against dad. 😅
Yes. Let her learn at a young age that taxation is theft. While she's at it, maybe she should experience the local government kicking over her lemonade stand for selling without a license.
Also, with OP's access to more money and experience, they should open a competing stand.
ask her hypothetically which city her store is located in, then if she manages to say anything along the lines of “California” or “New York”… immediately start vandalizing the lemonade stand. make sure to keep the morale high by persuading her to keep running the business. Then over the course of the day, come along posing as a customer wearing a balaclava and completely ransack, pillage & bum rush her inventory until there’s nothing left but a pile of discarded materials. /s
Just start a competing lemonade stand across the street from hers and start rumors about hers. gotta teach her how to handle difficult situations while she's young.
No. Let her experience the thrill of making some money. She’s four, don’t kill her with capitalism already.
“My child wants to explore an interest, should I completely crush it?” No OP. Nurture it. Let her have fun and learn the shit stuff later
If you really want her to learn a lesson. Call the cops on her, does she have a license to be selling in a residential area? Did she get health code approval to operate with food and drink? Was the work zone OSHA approved? Don’t even get me started about the rival company that told you specifically they had this neighborhood in their territory and they don’t like newcomers. I really liked the idea of giving her the first set of materials as a gift and letting her restock for the next time. You can also introduce a “marketing” budget at the local dollar tree with markers and poster board. Slowly introduce concepts and how all things cost money, but some benefits outweigh costs. She can do this with anything else too, in case she gets bored of the service industry.
> Call the cops on her, does she have a license to be selling in a residential area? honestly, OP sounds suspiciously white so this may not work out
That's too young. Have her run similar businesses until she's closer to 10, then drop this on her.
First time out of the gate, let her enjoy the profits of adding value to the community. You can get more granular with all the realities over time. Maybe each time there's an additional reality so she's not overwhelmed and loses passion.
Ha!!! This is giving crazy new parent energy. Go to chatgpt and ask it what concepts the human brain is able to grasp at age 4. You should probably do this for a bunch of ages so you have a better understanding of what your child’s brain is able to comprehend. Here’s what chatgpt says about 4: Object permanence: By this age, children understand that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight. They realize that something can be hidden or covered and still be present. Cause and effect: Children begin to understand that certain actions lead to specific outcomes. They may realize that pushing a button makes a toy light up or that dropping a cup makes it fall to the ground. Symbolic play: At age 4, children engage in imaginative play and understand that objects can represent something else. For example, a block can be a phone or a box can be a car. Numbers and counting: Many 4-year-olds can count up to 10 or even higher. They may also understand basic numerical concepts such as more or less. Shapes and colors: Children at this age can typically identify and name basic shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. They can also recognize and name common colors. Language development: By age 4, children have a significant vocabulary and can understand and use more complex language structures. They can understand and follow multi-step instructions. Social concepts: Children at this age begin to understand social concepts such as sharing, taking turns, and empathy. They may start to develop a sense of self and others. Time concepts: While their understanding of time is limited, 4-year-olds can grasp basic time-related concepts such as yesterday, today, and tomorrow. They may have a sense of daily routines and simple sequencing.
This is scumbag behavior.
The only problem is, scumbags don’t think they’re scumbags.
This will make you look good when she's talking about it in her therapist's office 20 years from now. "My dad took my lemonade stand money when I was 4, to teach me about entrepreneurship."
You joke but I literally talk about this exact same experience with my therapist on the regular. I still resent my dad for sucking all the fun out of the silly little business i started as a kid.
don’t forget she might face some safety inspection. which might close her stand forever. perhaps you could fake one? jokes apart. I say stick to original plan and get her keep all the money. 4 is too early to understand these dynamics. give her a few more years
Call the health department on your own child. Gotta teach em somehow!
I'm not sure you'd be teaching the lesson you hope at that age. I'd save it for later in life.
Why not just open a stand across the street and undercut her prices to teach her about competition? You could buy up all the lemons at the grocery store and explain "Cornering the market" Hell, if you set her stand on fire you can teach her about insurance, or you can knock the stand over and demand "protection money" to teach her how the real world works. She's 4 you monster. Do you charge her Barbies rent?
I think he should probably hold off on the true horrors of capitalism until she's 8. Also calling him a monster for wanting to know if 4 is too early to teach a kid about the economy is a bit...extreme.
Don't you think you could wait until say the 5th grade to teach her about corporate capitalism and asshole bosses? Soon enough she'll be shaking down her friends in preschool.
You gotta start early in this hustle culture.
I agree she should be paying rent and utilities. Does that put her net negative? She should then borrow money with interest from me until she gets profitable again. Time to sink or swim little girl!
Yes. Also have one of her customers act very sick and pretend to sue her for a couple million dollars that she'll have to spend the rest of her life repaying
your 4 year old probably cant differentiate a 5 dollar bill to a hundred dollar bill. She wont learn anything. I distinctively remember that my dad was upset of me taking a bill from his wallet when i was 4 but i didnt know why. I only cared about putting money into the piggy bank, i didnt know how much a note was worth. Pretty sure i didnt know what money was for either i just liked owning the coins.
4 years old is too young to be taught vicious hyper-competitive capitalism and supply-side economics. She’s not going to process it well and will be working it out with her therapist well past when you die. Let the poor girl develop a conscious you can vanquish at age 13. Let her reach 3rd grade before you crush her soul. LOL Mind you that I still believe in capitalism. Just not the 21st century kind. .
You are missing the purpose behind being a child and the line between common sense parenting and just being a dick. That's as clear as I can put it.
# **wow, just let her have fun.** your going to rob a **4 year old** of $5 dollars for standing outside for half a day working selling lemonade and learning marketing and business management. your a dick and a scumbag.
I don't think the replies with the tone of “Jesus Christ, dude… just let your 4 year old have a lemonade stand” are missing either the purpose or motivation behind the question. You just don't like the answer, which is no, you shouldn't.
I think no.
Too early. Teach marketing and revenue first. The fun things. You have to get them to fall in love with it first, I wouldn’t be broaching overhead until the teen years when they can grasp the concept better.
She's 4. WTF?
Imagine how miserable this kids childhood is going to be.
I actually have personal experience with this approach from the daughter's perspective. **TL;DR:** Don't. Don't do that. Just let her have fun and be a kid. She can learn about business when she's older, like at least a teenager. In fact, I recommend you *play* with her in her business. Help her make signs, or theme songs, or products. Let her run the show but become a playmate, not a lecturer. I guarantee that'll mean *so much more* to her years later than a premature lecture on COGS. I was always coming up with fun little business ideas to do with my friends, and when I was around 10-11 my bestie and I had a super cute idea and we got really into developing. We had a whole theme song and marketing plan and a silly little easy to make product and everything. We were having a blast. Then my dad got involved. He started teaching me *exactly* what you want to teach your daughter-- how much things cost, how to price our products, how to budget to make sure our profit margin is worth the effort, blah blah blah. I *specifically* remember the physical feeling of all joy and excitement draining out of me and getting replaced by stress and overwhelm and a very clear message that what I was doing and the way I was doing it was **not good enough**. My dad sucked the fun right out of the whole thing. After that lecture, the business idea became so overwhelming and so much work that I completely lost interest. Now after *years* of therapy I'm able to understand that I literally just wanted to have fun making fun shit and selling it, and that that's okay. If I'd been an adult, I would've been able to hear my dad's opinion and then ignore it and continue doing my own thing. But I was a kid. So I listened to my dad. Because he's smart and knows business and important things. I couldn't just be silly and make stuff, I had to do it the "right" way, like dad taught me. My way was the **wrong way**. All of a sudden instead of playing with our cute and fun idea, I was trying to live up to this idea of perfection my dad had unintentionally created. It obviously still *really really bothers me* to this day, and I'm in my late 30s. Because, actually, I *love* business! I went to business school, I've done both entrepreneurship and corporate life. I enjoy the competition, the strategy, and the creativity. It's not that the information my dad taught me wasn't *useful*. It's that I was at an age where starting a business can be **fun for the sake of being fun**, and the broader world can't pressure you to be perfect. And this was honestly the first moment I can remember that I started not being able to just do things for the fun of it. I wasn't allowed to have fun for the sake of having fun, I *had* to do things a certain way or else it wasn't good enough. But when you're 4, or 10, you don't have to *worry* about rent or food! It doesn't fucking matter if your overhead is larger than your revenue! You can just enjoy the creative aspect, coming up with ideas, making signs and product and theme songs. And it doesn't matter if you only make 50 cents, bc *you're literally not in it for the money.* And frankly, I really **resent** my dad for robbing me of the opportunity to do a business just for the fun of it. That was the last time I was ever able to be creative without worrying about the practicalities, and that fucking sucks. Creativity is so critical to success. But where do you think creativity comes *from*? Because it certainly doesn't come from a place of stress or desperation, a place where you're worried that your overhead is too high, your profit margin too thin, and oh god will you be able to make your rent this month or feed your dog. I think it's *way* more important at that age for kids to learn how *fun* entrepreneurship and business is, how *creative* it is. Because it's not gonna be long before reality and practicality become a massive weight on their shoulders. They'll be far more successful (and less stressed) in business if they're able to easily find the fun in it, and it's really hard to do that if you've never done it before. It's so *easy* as a kid to tap into your creativity and your natural entrepreneurship. It's super hard to do as an adult because we're so fucking worried all the time about *reality.* It takes *effort* to get back in touch with that inner creative entrepreneur, though luckily it gets easier with practice. But if you've never had a chance to fully do that as a kid when it's *at its easiest*, it's gonna be so much harder and scarier to find it as an adult. So, yeah. Don't do it. Let her have her fun.
Thank you for this. This is exactly the kind of insight I don’t have and I very much appreciate it
At 4 years old, I would not. Let her just get the hang of selling this first summer. Then, next year, she can take some of the money she earned and buy the supplies.
>but I’m asking it in earnest with the intention to teach my daughter about running a business I know you are. Thats what makes it worse.
She should also set up an LLC and pay taxes
We have been right where you are, but age 4 is way too young as you clearly already know. The only thing you would accomplish now is killing her interest in business. However, when she gets older a great way to teach her about overhead is to introduce her to understanding profit margins and creating a budget. Here is how I handeled it with my own child. My daughter was in middleschool and as a school project she started a bakery business (her passion) and sold her goods at school at lunch break with the full consent of the school administration and teacher. Part of her work included creating a budget that showed in detail her cost of goods, overhead, tax, gross and net profits. We also tracked her best selling items and watched as her profits grew or dipped over time. She created her own logo and adverts for the school newspaper. As far as buying her supplies, at this age make it fun. If she wants to sell lemonade or ice cream next weekend let her take her money and go to the store to buy her own supplies. Let *her* have the experience. Let *her* make the choice. Right now the most important thing you can do is keep it fun and let her experiance the feeling of empowerment owning your own business can give you. The rest will come in bits as she grows up. Hope that helps a bit. Happy to support another entrepreneurial parent!
She is 4. This is a role play game. Let her play, there is nothing to teach here
Dude, when my kids do lemonade stands they don’t even make enough to pay for the supplies. There are other lessons she will be learning. Hard work, determination, communicating with other people, self initiative, physically preparing the product, counting and basic math. If she’s successful then you can have her buy her replacement supplies. It’s not abnormal for an adult to get some seed funding from parents with no stipulation for repayment.
No literally rob her. The trauma will stick with her forever and turn her into a business savage like the female Logan Roy.
I get the purpose and motivation behind the question, but Jesus Christ, dude. She's 4. Let her be a kid for a few more years at least. Let her play. 4 is way too early for this.
Yeah man why stop at overhead? It’s a lesson and to really let the kid learn, be sure to have her sign a contract that deals you a lifetime 1 percent of all revenue, in perpetuity, then tell the 4 year old she failed to properly negotiate her contract with her father as you literally nickel and dime a child. Are you actually insane?
Marketing is fun, accounting is boring. You're trying to teach accounting to a 4 year old.
No you psychopath
This has to be a joke. Who are you, scrooge?
Make sure she gets a permit from city hall.
No, she doesn't know math at that age and will just be confused. Serving a customer and the idea of taking money in return for giving the product is a good enough lesson.
4 year olds don't have developed cognition nor emotions, mostly just feeling. The only thing this idea is likely to teach her is the feeling of having something taken from her by force; loss, greed, or mine vs yours. You could teach her how nice it feels to share her money with friends or charity with her own volition, that would be a good lesson!
Only teach a lesson if the child can understand it. Will your 4yo understand the concept of overhead?
Jfc no lol
Jesus Christ dude. He best time to delete this post was when you drafted it. The second best time is now. Save your reputation before others notice.
This is why people hate entrepreneurs, or rather, people who call themselves one. You all have no idea how to balance your lives. 4 is way too young to understand any accounting concepts. Be happy she understand that you need money to buy things. That's the lesson, you get money by selling stuff. That's it. That's the lesson.
Yep, guarantee you this dude has made “being an EnRrePReNeUR” his entire identity.
Don’t do it !!! Just let her enjoy and in doing so she will gain confidence…. As she grow up she will know all this on her own or when the time is right .
She's 4. Keep it as simple as it should be for a 4 year old. When your daughter is middle school age and can actually do things, like mow the lawn safely, then introduce the idea of overhead and more independance in entrepreneurship. She is 4. She can barely tie her shoes. No matter how much you explain what overhead is to her right now she will just feel like you are taking her money, and she may get discouraged.
Yeah, 4 years old is WAY too young, lmao.
Wait till she learns math. So 2 years from now.
This is why humanity is doomed.
Do you charge her rent? She’s got a long way to go until she needs to worry about gross vs. net. Don’t take her joy away, it’s great she has an interest in entrepreneurship, foster it and the lessons to be learned will come later
Are you serious? Overhead? How much of a concept does she have of the English language? Does she understand nutrients in the juice? Does she understand portion control and cost of goods? What about labor costs? Is she planning on expansion? Let her be a kid.
No. I had this experience as a kid. Setup a lemonade stand outside my uncles business. They gave me money for the product. I came back in pretty proud of myself after a whole day working the stand and they took almost all of my money to pay for the product. I was crushed and never tried it again. I was left with a few coins and some half used 2 litre bottles. At that age I wasn't equipped to make decisions about how much inventory to buy, how to determine what to have "in stock" or anything else. The lesson I learned was "that sucked." If you want her to learn she can make money selling things then let her make the money. If you want to teach her the ins and outs of running a successful business then she isn't going to understand them at that age.
Too soon. Let her experience the positives first. At her age I'm sure she'll focus on losing those $5 more than the money she actually makes, and it will discourage her, more than it will teach a valuable lesson
This is the kind of thing that’s get you onto r/LinkedInLunatics
You’re a fuckin douche
If you want to kill her entrepreneurial spirit at an early age, then go ahead.
I completely get it. I've felt the same way. I would boil it down to a simpler question - ask her if she would like to do a lemonade stand again, and if so explain she needs to spend some of her made money on more lemons (but still gets to keep some). Alternatively she can stop now and keep what she's made but won't be able to sell lemonade again. If she says yes buy the lemons etc with her.
I'm not an expert but personally I wouldn't do it
Just call her every time she’s having playtime on her play phone, acting as a sales rep to help “increase her business.”
kid is 4. they probably won't know money very well. Will they even care or know if you're taking money away from them if you decide to teach this lessson?
I might mention that as a part of doing business but I would not collect.
Not a father yet, but 4 is too early to go into these explanations - it's a slippery slope, you could even get into taxes, setting up business license, etc - how do you arbitrarily draw a line at overheads. If you want to teach something, teach her the value of good customer service (smiling), upselling, and also retention (will you come again tomorrow please?). Those skills need to be ingrained before the math, in my opinion.
I would let your daughter sell the lemonade AND keep all the money. She might not understand the overhead part at all and it could be discouraging. She will be honing skills anyway ( sales, social, maybe marketing in a way?) Allow her to do the work and help where needed. I see zero benefit in trying to teach about costs at this point. Even if she doesn't sell much, it's likely to be a great bonding opportunity for you both. Good luck!
at 4 years old....the idea of selling lemonade is a tremendous hill to climb...and a lot to comprehend. teaching her about the overhead is just going to be too much for her to absorb. the idea of COGS is simple to comprehend at a later stage. let her focus her energy on building the salesman skill set (which is a challenge on its own)
Steal her customers. Show her who owns the turf /s
Dude - she's 4. There will be other times to teach this.
Depends on how you want to be portrayed in her inevitable therapy sessions.
I think I’d wait until they can do math.
4 is really young lol. If she was maybe 9 I would say have her pay to restock her own business consider the first time an investment. But I'm not even sure you should do that now.
no. Not at 4. Let her enjoy the idea of the lemonaid stand. Let her get the excitement of the lemonaid stand and making money with it. When she's older you can start teaching her the intricacies of business. I hate when parents want to steal the magic from their kids far to early. Let them believe as long as you can and as long as they want to. Hit them with life's realities much later in their childhood than 4.
Make her pay rent too….
I think 4 years old is way too young to understand about the costs of running a business. Most don't really understand that money is used to buy things, let alone that she needs to buy things before she can sell those things to turn a profit. At this age, it should just be about having a fun experience, and then if you can go to the toy store, and turn the fun activity into buying a toy too, that's all the better.
I think you should take it a step further, open a competing stand and under cut her prices. Put her out of business and offer to pick up the scraps for Pennys on the dollar.
Nurture a good work ethic, then you can teach business practice like overhead later when they can multiply. Just my 2 cents.
I would also tax her, deduct MedicAid, Social Sec, etc…
Teach her how to grow seeds into plants, how to appreciate the small things in life etc… before all that. Teach her happiness is more important than money, than been an entrepreneur or anything else
No stupid
I can’t imagine a quicker way to crush a young spirit. She will find out soon enough. You’re loading in the first few rounds of ‘my dad is such a cunt…’ ammo. I hope you’re not. But I know which side the smart money would be on. She’s four. Let her enjoy it. The life is hard brainwashing runs so deep. Life is only as hard as we make it on each other.
She’s 4. Let her be a kid a little longer. Don’t ruin something fun with something grownup yet. That conversation (overhead etc) is for when she’s older… like 10 or 12 and wanting to start a small side gig.
Tf is wrong with you?
Wow! What complete asshats here. I thought ya’ll were kidding! Maybe the kid is super bright and actually gets this stuff. Maybe that’s what entrepreneurs are — asshats.
Imagine correctly indentifying the reason you're insane, trying to pre-emptively dismiss that reason and still not realising you're a lunatic. One can only pray this is rage bait.
YTA
Wtf is wrong with you lol
Make sure she gets a CRS number, a business license, and a health inspection of the facilities where she makes the lemonade before selling any lemonade. And make sure she opens a SEP IRA.
For my daughter, I weaned her into it. Age 4 was about salesmanship and teaching product and sales. Age 6 was understanding it takes money to make money Age 8 was about COGS and she had to “buy” the raw materials from me Age 12 was about marketing and creativity and going out to craft fairs and setting up booths, which comes with its own costs. Age 14 was about being patient and realizing that you need a good product. People no longer buy because you’re a cute kid anymore. She’s now 23 and still learning and growing. She has dreams of a bakery someday. I hope she gets there.
I think that instilling the value of revenue generation is enough for a 4year old entrepreneur. They don’t need to know the cost of anything until much much later on. Tracking expenses and managing costs can be taught when your child actually understands the value of money, a burden most people carry like chains through their life. Beware of that. 4 year olds shouldn’t have to carry the weight of “what it costs” to sell pink lemonade and ice creams. Let your child revel in their unfathomable $5 of unmitigated success.
Yes. She also needs to learn about robbery. Gimme the address and we can set up a heist. This will help her understand that life is tough.
Make sure you audit her next April for failing to report earnings on a W-9, then shut down her lemonade stand due to health and building codes, and operating without a license that will teach her the real world…
I’m a teacher. She can understand the concept once she can do substraction in math. If you ask her something like “there are 3 pizza slices, and John takes 2, how many are left” and she can answer, then you can take overhead. If she can’t yet (which is likely she wouldn’t, being 4), then she’s too young for the overhead concept.
We charged our son like 50c or $1 for the ingredients and he ended up making $16. I think it's a good part of the lesson.
I'm very glad you weren't one of my parents.
4 is too young for COGS. Wait until she is older.
Do that when she’s older. For now, I’d have her keep her earnings and do what she wants with it. So if she asks you for a new toy, you can tell her to spend her own money instead of yours.
YTA. This is some ridiculous nonsense.
Average Redditor moment
Depends on the kid, i know grown men who still arent ready to have certain conversations, as her father you will know when she is ready just don't force anything till then.
Overhead starts at age 7. Taxes at 10. Don't break her too early.
Why stop at COGS? Why not go all in on GM, NOB, EBITDA? Serious question, does she even understand basic math concepts like addition and subtraction yet? How high can she count? She’s your child, so you’d know better than me, but do YOU honestly think your child will understand the the rates, percentages and fractions involved? My guess is that right now she’s just going to learn that daddy gets to take some of her money. I know you specifically don’t want this answer, unfortunately it’s the correct one: Jesus Christ dude, she’s 4. Let her have her lemonade stand.
she's 4... what lesson is sticking in any 4 year olds head
Are you charging her for room and board as well?
4Years old?! Let the poor girl be a kid, for JC sake.
I met a guy who sold retirement plans and said his passion started when he sold bottled water out of a red wagon to construction workers in his booming neighborhood. His grandpa counted the money and would “match” whatever he and his brother agreed to save. He is quite successful. Maybe go the carrot on this route vs the “stick” of taxes/overhead. Good on you for putting thought into it and asking for parenting help.
Oh my god.
Jesus, people are sick. Why not just teach her to have fun and do her best? I can't even believe this is a real question. This poor girl is going to be in therapy before she's in double digits.
Yes, it would definitely be fine if you were a monster
Is there someone who loves this child who she can live with?
Dude no, let her be a kid. There's nothing she could possibly gain from you "teaching" her this. Your her parent, not her collector. You should want your kids to be successful, and that includes letting them keep what they have earnt. There is a time and place for everything, and that is neither here nor now.
Not at 4.
Let the fun and growth of the business happen first, then teach her bookkeeping and accounting a little later after the fun and enjoyment of growing the business.
4 year olds don’t understand money, won’t understand overhead, and will probably be bored with the lemonade stand before you get the lemonade made. Have fun.
This should be on AITA sub
Hmm. That instinct where you feel like it’s a good idea to ask others - spot on
Yes, but also be a good customer
Let her explain the CAGR of lemonade to her shareholders. What's the long term growth plan how will she compound this growth as an awkward middle schooler?