I always had a business or two growing up. I did lemonade, brownies, and other food items. But my best two were renting a table at a flea market to sell baseball cards and when I went door to door selling “stuff” out of a magazine to earn enough to go to DC on my 8th grade class trip for free!

Dear J.D, I am going into the 3rd grade this fall. I LOVE to write and to add up on the brains department, I corectly lerned to spell my first and last name as well as Mom and dad in pre K, ( my teachers wrote them on cards for me to copy). To answer your question I practice writing almost every day! You don’t know what an honor it is to be in contact with a REAL writer . I hope that some day I will be a real writer like you. Yours truely,
Gracie

I’m telling you folks: this is Good Stuff. I think she’s off to a great start.

Some of them seem like they might even be deliberate. Who knows?

In any event, if it were a homework assignment it would need correcting, but it’s a labor of love and I think it’s charming.

And the spelling isn’t bad for the age, and grammar looks good too. I think some people have forgotten what it’s like to be a child.

This girl probably just finished the second grade! Her spelling and grammar seem fantastic. Especially her grammar. I don’t know any second-graders who write this well. I certainly couldn’t.

I understand what you are saying, but from my admittedly VERY limited knowledge of dyslexia and some of the other learning disabilities, I don’t think this girl has a problem in this area. Her sentences were coherent, the words were in the correct order, and the words as used “phonetically” were correct; it’s just that the spelling was atrocious. I do think it’s wonderful that she used a typewriter (not sure why, but still wonderful) and it does make it difficult to correct mistakes unless you start over. However, I personally would rather see a paper with fewer errors that showed at least some attention to academic subjects such as spelling and grammar. She may end up making a monetary fortune, but she’ll still need to write a coherent business plan at some point. Proper English writing skills will probably be necessary for that effort.

I have a 15-year-old stepson, and I’m looking for tips on things such as allowances, providing him with a car, giving him money for going to movies, buying video games, etc.

Also, I’d be interested in tips on helping him to avoid the nightmare of debt that some kids get into (like I did) when those credit card offers start rolling in soon.

Forgive me for being the wet blanket here, but I think the 8 year old might want to spend a little less time on entrepreneurship and a bit more time with a dictionary/spelling book. As a parent, I would be proud of my daughter for her efforts but embarrassed as all get out at her spelling and grammar.

I was thinking the same thing.

Unfortunately, I think this world is slowly moving to a point where spelling doesn’t count any more.

This was more of a concern for the last year as they were both saving their pocket money (and asking family to contribute cash for birthdays and xmas in lieu of presents) to buy their own laptops – which they each did earlier in the year.

With that milestone out of the way, I think they feel ready to embark on the new project.

After spending an hour researching variables for the business plan this morning, one of them said to me “This is even more exciting than playing Halo!”.

Indeed it is.

that carries across a lifetime too, and can end up making a huge difference in their lives. case in point: my car (we bought and paid for) vs a colleague’s car (her parents gifted to her, like everything else she owns). guess which one of those 2 cars is taken care of? which one will require replacement sooner? you know the answer.

Our goal is to teach our kids the value of money and how to be entrepreneurs. We found years ago that they treat their things better when it was purchased with their hard earned money. They also have a stronger understanding of money, credit, debt, and business.

That just makes me sad. We are beauracracizing all the joyous experiences out of life.

@JD:
Thanks for the article. This really lifted my mood for the day.

Some areas have even applied this law to bake sales for charity. The way the law is written, it does apply to charity bake sales. Many officials look the other way when it is done for charity, though.

My children used to sell homemade lemonade, cookies, and carrot cake at the flea market, but that is prohibited now.