Isn't she cute? This whole thing was her idea, and she pushed hard for it. Murray and I were less than focused on The Lemonade Stand this morning, but she made a sign (in red marker on purple construction paper - you can imagine how readable that was) I just had to fix and harangued us into making the lemonade.
As cute as she is, she's not a natural born saleswoman. A typical exchange goes something like this:
Kind Acquaintance/Family Member: Oh! Look, lemonade! Can I buy some?
Natalie: Nods
K.A./F.M.: Oh, wonderful, here's my quarter.
N: takes quarter, smiles.
Mom: Give them a cup, Natty!
Natty: fumbles with the plastic bag, drags a cup out and hands it to the customer
K.A./F.M. gushes about how good it is.
Natty: distracted by something, ignores them.
Mom: Say "Thank you" Natty
Natty (as people are leaving) yells, "Thank you!"
We had a couple role-playing practices that helped her technique. She was also thrilled to show me she was getting some dollar bills, and when it was my turn to hang out in the front yard with her, I realized that she wasn't actually making change. Then we took the opportunity to work on counting out money - how many quarters in a dollar bill? When a customer buys one lemonade and hands you a dollar bill, how much do they get back? It's never-ending humor with Natty.
The "every moment is a teachable moment" aspect of parenting I find hilarious and exhausting. Things I take for granted and feel like I always knew, I must have been taught; because Natalie has to be taught them. One of the best parenting "gems" I got out of the Family Time class we took was that often kids don't mean to be naughty, they just don't know. Crazy, huh. (Obviously, sometimes they do mean to be naughty, which is a whole other kettle of fish) That piece of knowledge has chilled me out dramatically as a mom - and galvanized me to make teaching a large part of my discipline.
Late in the afternoon her best buddy Rori stopped by to help out. Rori is an enthusiastic little thing, and she got things hopping. We had to limit them to yelling at runners just once. "They can read the sign, no need to harass them." Rebecca, Rori's mom and a great friend of mine, took more pictures of The Stand and posted them on Facebook, but I'm too tired to figure out how to link to them right now.
Stand by for Memorial Day pictures tomorrow!
First customers
Making the sign
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