Our little entreprenuer

Spencer used to save his quarters to buy gumballs at the mall. It was a rip off .25 cents for one gumball, but he loved it anyway. Then one day, Spencer came running in from outside with a candy bar he'd bought from the neighbor kid for a dollar. He was so proud! Calvin tried to explain to him that he could have bought 3 candy bars for a dollar, and then sold the other 2 for 50 cents (to undercut the other guy), and ended up with a free candy bar for himself. When Spencer heard about this, IT CHANGED HIS LIFE!


The next time he was at the store with his dad, they bought a bag of gum balls, for like $3. Spencer immediately set out to sell them. First his dad bought one for .25 cents, "Because if your own dad won't buy one, who will?" Spencer sold 20 gumballs in the first afternoon. To whom, you ask? All the neighborhood kids! Even some of the older ones! This is the neighborhood 'gang' that plays outside every day .

I had no idea when we moved here that there were even any KIDS on the street! Then again, it was the dead of summer at the time... when sane people hibernate inside. These 3 other families are the coolest, Christian families of various faiths and I love that my kids play with them.

At first the gum-selling was cute. But now that Grant has zero money left (he spent it all on gum from Spencer), and Spencer has a large bag full of money, things are getting a little crazy. When the ice cream truck comes around, Spencer pulls out his 'loaded' bag and buys an ice cream for $2. Of course, he does buy one for Grant too, which is thoughtful for a big brother. The ice cream lady gives him a free gum for buying. So what does Spencer do? He turns around and sells it to Grant! I'm pretty sure Grant owes him money by now.

Now that most of the gum is gone, Spencer has revised his money-making plan to other means. Like when Christopher came over with his $5 to buy a mini skateboard from Spence (worth about $.50 that he got at school for Valentine's day). And then his little brother showed up with his dad's $20 dollar bill looking for SOMETHING to buy. Spence was about to sell him 15 pellet gun remains when I caught him! I made him give it back. Poor kids! I had a little chat with the moms warning them to keep their kids' money on watch.

It's not that Spencer is greedy, he's just really caught on to this whole 'make a profit' thing. The crazy thing is that he actually understands that something is worth what somebody will pay. Christopher loves skateboards, so $5 isn't too high if he's wants it enough to buy it for that much. Crazy. This is what he told me last night.

"Mom, the only thing standing between me and a whole lot of money.....is a little red wagon. That's it. Then I'd sell things up and down the street in my wagon. Of course, I wouldn't want to make TOO much money, so I think I'll make Wednesdays free."

What in the world??!! I tell Calvin he's created a monster. He just laughs and says he wished he'd learned more about money when he was that young. Money does not grow on trees, but you sure can make a killing selling gumballs in our neighborhood. Want to buy any?