The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: DixieBelle on March 10, 2008, 09:13:51 AM
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So kiddo tells me yesterday that he wants a job at our community center. He's 10. Please allow me to beam with pride as I share the following. :-)
We have a community center in our condo complex. It's got a gym, business/media center, lounge area, meeting rooms, sauna, pool, etc...they have some office workers who oversee things. They also keep it clean and make sure everything is in working order and they handle package deliveries for the residents. One of the things they do is keep a fresh supply of baked cookies and coffee on hand.
Kiddo comes to the conclusion that he could make the cookies, help keep things clean, do a little "tech support" on the internet machines and help people retrieve their packages because the ladies in the office are always busy. He thinks he could do this for two hours a day and make around $10 an hour. The kids hang out in the community center so this is where he got the idea.
First of all, I praised his industriousness and willingness to work and then told him that he's too young to work, they can't legally hire him, etc...and that I think with school, extracurricular activities, chores, etc...he's already busy enough. He tells me that he doesn't want to end up working in McDonalds someday so he wants to get plenty of experience now. (And he adds, unless it's just a summer job because that's not really a good plan for life is it?)
So he asks me - "What if I become my own boss and start my own company?" :-) This is the point in the story where a Freeper jumps out of the bushes and gives my son his initiation into the VRWC.
I told him, that yes, owning your own business is a great way to make money and you get to be your own boss. But, you are also the one responsible for your success and you have to come up with a really good idea and offer a service that people are willing to pay for. We talk some more about being an entrepreneur, what that word means, etc...he immediately starts to see how this could be even more lucarative than cookie baking for the man and comes up with his own venture.
He wants to offer a trash removal service to everyone in the neighborhood. As it stands now, every resident must take their trash to the compactor (there are a few on site). You are not allowed to leave trash sitting outside your door in the common areas. Kiddo is responsible for taking out our family's trash twice a week. He told me that he's noticed lots of adults taking trash to the compactor and "they aren't happy about it." He said he never sees other kids doing it and he thinks that a kid like him could make some money helping out the grown ups.
We talked at length about being in business for yourself, making money, investing, planning for your future, etc...I just had to brag. I'm so proud! All of the things we've said over the years seemed to have made an impact. He understands more at his age than I ever did as a child.
Anyway, he's already come up with flyers to sell his business, he's going to charge a sliding fee depending on what floor the people live on, how much trash, how often they use him, etc..he even recruited a friend to work for him. And the kicker? They decided to give a percentage of their earnings to the church and a percentage to a charity. They are going to call themselves "Two Brats and a Bag".
I don't know what will come of this and if it's even feasible. I'm going to quietly ask the homeowner's assoc. But darn it, I'm so proud!!!
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"Two Brats and a Bag". :lmao:
That's too cool, Dixie. That's a fine young man you're raising. :cheersmate:
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Wow! A kid hustling and working hard to make money. You're doing something right. When I was a kid, every time it snowed, I had my shovel on my shoulder and would shovel neighbor's driveways for a few bucks. It was great!
Best of luck to him! You deserve to be proud!
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Thanks guys!!!! You always wonder about things "sinking in" and then one day, they surprise the hell out of you.
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Wow! What a great young man you are raising there! :cheersmate: Here's to a successful business venture!!
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You most certainly should be proud!!
When I was a kid, I made cakes from my easybake oven and sold them to my brother and his friends out of my bedroom window :-)
Your son is much more sophisticated.
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Just more proof of this horrible * economy. Now, 10 year old children are having to work to help pay those mortages that the BFEE and their cronies sold to all the average normal people trying to just live life. This is the reason that we need more goverment in our daily lives so we can save the child sweat shops that * is causing to be formed within condo complexes in Virginiastan due to his horrible economic policies and the lining of his oil buddies pockets.
Sounds like you have raised a great child Dixie :cheersmate:
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^LMAO! That's a great post for DU :-)
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Thanks guys!!!! You always wonder about things "sinking in" and then one day, they surprise the hell out of you.
Sharp kid, sharp mom.
:)
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So he asks me - "What if I become my own boss and start my own company?" This is the point in the story where a Freeper jumps out of the bushes and gives my son his initiation into the VRWC.
:rotf:
:clap: :clap: :clap: You're bringing that boy up right!
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I think we need to start a VWRC mentor program for youths. :-)
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You are so blessed!! My oldest would like to get her welfare checks going now so she can dread her hair and move to Berkeley when she is 18. My son will probably make his living as a hitman or knee breaker for the mob. :thatsright:
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He is simply brilliant!!! :)
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Great kid, I hope the association is OK with him doing this it is such a great idea.
Two Brats and a bag. :rotf:
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I dunno.
Ten might be a little bit too young, even if the "job"'s a trivial one, but good luck to him.
The first "job" I undertook was babysitting, at the age of 14, and that was perhaps a little too early.
Before anyone casts aspersions upon my maculinity, the Sandhills town where I grew up had an overwhelming preponderance of boys and an underwhelming preponderance of girls. My high-school graduating class of 101, for example, had 32 girls and 69 boys.
Which meant that in that town, boys oftentimes did "girl" jobs. The quarterback of the high school team wrapped gifts at the ladies'-wear store, and the star of the track team jerked sodas at one of the drug stores. The state champion (in his weight class) in wrestling sold sewing notions at the five-and-dime.
Really.
I disremember how I got into the babysitting business, but I was favored by people with large numbers of children, four or more. Also, being a boy, I could stay out babysitting longer than a girl babysitter.
It was okay, no great shakes, no especially tumultuous happenings.
There was one time when I was babysitting a family of seven children, ages 9 down to infancy. These were Mormons; I have no idea how they ended up in the Sandhills of Nebraska, but at least they had a lot of books, and it was a long drag between 8:00 p.m. (bedtime for the kiddies) and midnight or 1:00 a.m. when the parents got home.
One summer evening, I fed the kids watermelon. Including the infant.
I had no idea.
By the time the parents got home, I had used up every diaper available, and had resorted to using bathroom hand-towels, and there was a heap of those, used.
I had no idea.
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I smell funny independent offbeat comedy... probably the first one people on the right would be motivated to go see.
*TKay*