The Yard Sale Lemonade Stand – Gatoraid and Chips Ahoy?
Sometimes it’s the smallest things that piss me off, and fate of lemonade is one of them. Here we are in working America, and dumb ass moms who run power-positions at the bank can’t teach their kid to make a decent batch of lemonade. Recently, I went to a yard sale at in Asheville ‘where the rich people live’. You know, up in the mountain side where all the 300K + homes are. It was the usual yard sale fare. Oh, there’s a nice oak armoire. Hey, there’s a hibachi grill. And over here folks, we have . . . a really cheap looking plastic vinyl lemonade stand with a completely disinterested child behind it. The whole pitiful thing looks like it came from mail order for $19.95.
Still I felt compelled to help this child feel the power of American capitalism, so I thrust forth my change for a cookie and lemonade. What came to my lips was the same crap from the store; boxes and bags of chemicals and corn syrup in the form of Gatorade and Chips Ahoy. It was just this huge horrible let down, this disintegration of the American fabric. I can’t tell you what I felt, just something really wrong.
As each weekend comes around I see it more, clueless kids who would rather be on MySpace then be interacting with people. A lemonade stand is the usually that first foray into money exchange for a kid. Every now and then, I’ll see one ‘done right’. It’s obvious that work went into every aspect. Fresh baked cookies and brownies. Fresh squeezed lemons and real sugar (Hey, even half lemon juice is OK, as long as you use real sugar). It’s those times I have to applaud the child and parents for keeping the American dream alive. Any other time, I have to ask stupid questions like, “Is-this-lemonade-made-with-reaaaaallll-lemons?” The poor kid doesn’t know, nor does he even give a shit. The parent is off on a cell phone somewhere.
It’s not as if the kid wont be successful in life. He’s probably training to be a banker or stock broker as we speak. He can go to Starbucks and buy a fresh lemonade for $3 like rest of the idiots out there. That’s all fine during the good times. But thrust a nation into recession like we are now, and it might be nice to know that you can follow a recipe. It’s good to know you can hammer a makeshift kiosk together. Maybe later in life, you wont have to hire somebody to hang a picture becuase of your hammering skills.
What does ‘done right’ mean. I would think it means this:
- An actual ’store front’ look which can be as simple as an upside down “U” shape hammered together with 3 boards. If you want to go further than that, fine. The actual table could be a card table or maybe dad’s workshop table with a table cloth. The important thing is the framed “U” that says, “Lemonade” on top. Extra points for crooked letters.
- Actual lemonade made with lemons, sugar and water. Some real lemon juice could be substituted to keep down costs. One lemon should be scrubbed down, sliced and dropped into the container to show that, “yes indeed, there’s real lemons in here.”
- Real Toll House cookies are a must. Just buy a package of Nestle chocolate chips and follow the recipe on the back. Use real butter, not crappy margarine spread. Extra points if you make walnut brownies.
- An attentive child who sticks to their post and has a great big smile.
Why?
The point is to teach the child skills for life.
- Using a hammer is actually a very useful skill and confidence building exercise. Same goes for a hand saw. Sooner or later, that kid will be an adult and have to fix things around the house.
- Following recipes is a basic skill that is lost upon a whole generation of kids, especially gen X and onward. It builds confidence. It’s something to fall back on in hard economic times.
- Exchanging money and interacting with adults is basic capitalism. You learn the value of time and money. You learn what people will pay and what sells well.