15 July 2009

HELP!!! My Kids are Making Me Crazy!!!

While I'm relaxing on the beach with my family this week, I'm thrilled to have Carissa from GoodNCrazy here.

Carissa has created a summer GoodNCrazy series: HELP! My Kids Are Driving Me Crazy! With ideas from friends, fellow bloggers and her own kids. Please help me welcome Carissa to ASPTL!



Lemonade Stand: Kids Give

What could be better than a summer lemonade stand?

Fun for the kids, fun for the grown-ups (to watch) and when there are yummy cookies for sale.. it's win-win for EVERYone! Bonus: great answer to "What can I do Mom, I'm bored?"


And how about this!?

Have your kids plan to donate their hard earned income to a charity they choose!

Teaches:

  • HOW to plan— the kids have to decide what to make, what day to run the sale-and what time of day brings the most customers (lunchtime? or rush hour?), and where to donate the cash.
  • Baking—each week they choose a new recipe for an easy baked good to make and sell.
  • MATH— they get to count the loot at the end of the day, calculate how much they need to use to purchase new supplies (I know I'm mean huh? I make them work this like a business, I donate the first week's supplies... but the rest are theirs to purchase), then at the end of the summer they determine how much they made total for their charity!
  • Entrepreneurship— it takes guts to flag down your neighbors and sell your goods to them. What if they don't like the cookies? What if they don't want to pay? How to talk to people who buy lemonade, can you convince them to purchase a cookie or two?!
  • Philanthropy— there are a lot of places to donate money. But the whys and hows are interesting for kids to learn about too. We chose Share Our Strength because the charity is all about making sure children get enough food to eat. What charity would your kids choose?

How great do these Ginger Snap cookies look?

Soft and chewy... and almost completely made by the kids! See the recipe for these yummies at CandH Sugar.

And you know there will be down time between 'customers', right? Driveway frisbee toss is perfect while they wait?

There are a lot of ways kids can earn money. They can collect soda cans and redeem them. Or mow neighbor's lawns, if not old enough for that, they can offer to weed or rake. They can do mom-jobs around the house. Things that aren't on their normal chore list. Like tidying up the garage, or cleaning out the fridge? What other ideas can you and your kids come up with to clear some cash to contribute to a good cause?

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Thanks for filling in for me today, Carissa! Join Carissa for her summer beat the boredom series...topics include:
*Kids in the Kitchen
*Kid Friendly Crafts
*LOOOOONG road trips
*Summertime Reading with Kids
*Eat Your Veggies
*Sneaking in Summertime Reading



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Don't forget! Thursday is DIY Day on ASPTL!

DIY Day @ ASPTL

I'll put the post up at 11:00pm tonight, so have your posts ready to go!

16 comments {Click here to leave a comment}:

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

Oh yes....we all love boredom busters. :)

Anonymous said...

What a great resource for parents!

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

Thanks so much Kimba! I'm super excited to be featured and HUMBLED! Wow!?!

As for you on the beach...?? JEAL-ous! Enjoy it!!

Its So Very Cheri said...

My cousins lived right by the beach entrance and her kids would sell fresh squeezed lemonade-it helped her get rid of a lot of lemons from her trees. Her kids always made a lot of money from thirsty people on the beach. Donating the money is a great idea
Cheri
www.itssoverycheri.blogspot.com
2nd week of July GIVE AWAY going on

Runner Mom said...

Love the driveway frisbee!! These are great ideas! I even sold lemonade when I was a little girl, back in the dark ages!!

Hugs!
Susan

Tara said...

We love doing lemonade stands!!! a classic favorite!!!

MaricrisG said...

Great initiatives comes from small ideas. Carissa is that person. Funny but have ideas that is great!

Glad to be here!

Caroline said...

Oh these are some really good ideas! Thanks for all the great links!

Richella Parham said...

A great post! No matter how big your kids get, they still get bored sometimes in the summer. These are great ideas for beating that.

Hope you're having a great time at the beach! Will you still be hosting DIY Day this week, or is that on vacation too?

Stacie @ newmommyhelp.net said...

My big boys (age 6) had asked last year about doing a lemonade stand and we forgot about it. Thanks for the idea of donating the money. I'm not sure they'll go for giving it all away, but maybe half.

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

Great post! :) I can't wait to check out the other boredom busters. My kiddos are a little young for a lemonade stand--they'd probably guzzle it all or put it in the dog's water bowl. ;)

monkeyseeboutique said...

Love this resource, Kimba. Thanks so much for sharing! Now to put them to good use.

Mary Beth said...

I'm thirsty *cough, cough, cough* do they deliver?

Great ideas and great kids!

The Blushing Hostess said...

Fabulous and intelligent. I love it.

Jennifer said...

We are in the midst of planning a bake-n-charity type of deal right now. So great to teach kids to give back!

Claremont First Ward said...

I've enjoyed her summer series......this one is great.