The great crab quest

Journaling reads:

It might be hard to tell what this picture actually is: it’s a sign for a lemonade stand. Shelby wants to open up a lemonade stand. It’s one of the two things she’s been talking about, nonstop, for the last two days.

 On Saturday, Mike took the kids to the mall to play. While there, they checked out the hermit crab kiosk. From the moment Shelby saw the crabs she desperately wanted one. She begged and begged Daddy to buy her a crab. Staying true to our philosophy of not buying the kids everything they want, the minute they want it, Mike said no. We’ve been making Shelby save her allowance for things she wants and then when she has enough then she can buy them.

The hermit crab, with its accompanying plastic terrarium, cost $40. Shelby was short the $40 price tag by $12. Last night she asked me “Mom, how can I win some money.” I explained to her the concept of winning versus earning … and gave her a long list of chores she could to earn more money. She pulled weeds. She helped with Cooper. She fed Cassius. But she was still short (mind you, it had been less than 24-hours since she started her quest for the hermit crab).

Then she had a grand idea. She called me right away (I’m in New Jersey on business this week) and told me she was going to open a lemonade stand in our neighborhood. She had plans to hit the store today to get paper cups and she had already made a sign.

When she woke up this morning she was still going strong, not wavering in her quest. Daddy and I talked about it and decided to buy the crab for her … reward her for hard work, tenacity and passion. As I type this, the two of them are headed to the mall to pick out a crab and one little girl VERY happy.