Several years before I was even married, I bought this book.
I loved it when I first heard of it,
and it still gives me great ideas for keeping the children busy during the summer in profitable endeavors!!
Here are a few ideas the authors give for summer jobs appropriate for children:
1. Baby-sit
2. Bake and sell homemade cookies and bread
3. Clean houses or move furniture (obviously meant for older ones)
4. Clean swimming pools
5. Clear away old junk and trash
6. Clip and organize coupons in envelopes for Mom. Let the children
keep the refunds.
7. Hold a garage sale
8. Mow lawns (again obviously for older ones)
9. Produce a backyard carnival and sell tickets for the games and refreshments.
10. Publish a neighborhood newspaper.
11. Pull weeds
12. Sweep porches and driveways
13. Pet sit
14. Car wash
15. Teens could tutor younger children in reading.
16. Wash windows
17. Water plants and yards for vacationing families
What we did last year and continue to do this year is to sell candy bars door-to-door as well as in businesses. We buy the box of mixed candy (Snickers bars, 3 Musketeers, M &M's, etc) at Costco which has 30 bars to the box. Our cost is approximately $.50 a bar, and we sell them for a dollar a bar.
I could NOT believe how much candy the neighbors on our street bought from my children!!!
My husband takes a couple boxes (or 4 ) to the police station and sets them out in the break room with a little sign explaining what we are doing.
Believe me.....police officers eat their fair share of Snickers bars too!!
This year, we asked my mother-in-law to take a couple boxes to her office and we were shocked at how generous the folks were there. Several people gave lovely donations without buying any candy!
We are praying together as a family for opportunities for the children to earn some of their money. The other day an elderly couple we know who live on the next street over remembered Lexi was selling candy to earn her way to camp. They called us up and asked if Lexi would like to earn some money by watering their flowers for them while they are on vacation!! She is just DELIGHTED by that!!
We're also thinking about the garage sale idea too, and selling sodas and candy for a dollar along with some homemade goodies. Those things always go over great in our area!!!
What have you done in the past to encourage your children to learn how to work and to earn some of the money for camp or other trips?
No comments:
Post a Comment