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This is what I really like in the USA: the entrepreneur spirit, here in Europe,we don’t think the same way… When in the movies we see American kids selling limonade or staff like that, my kids want to do the same, but just try it and police will come and tell me what kind of mother I am and that it’s forbitten to make kids work :-(… My oldest son made bracelets two years ago and decided to sell them on the beach to the tourists, some of them bought one, but one asked him where were his parents, if he was from Romania and wanted to call the police to “help him to escape from this horrible situation”. Because we make homeschool and it’s not legal in Spain, we don’t want any problem… A pity. I like your blog. You’re brillant!
Why do you live in Spain?
Can you move to another beautiful location that has similar of the positive conditions and less of the things you hate the most?
I can’t move that easily… I have a job, the father of my kids won’t let me leave… So we must take care…
I see. That’s hard.
I’d like to share with you, something that changed my life was thinking in terms of “I can’t do xyz because of all these reasons” to “how can I do xyz? What would I need to make it happen? How can I make those things come together?”
And I’d just play with it, even in my sleep and lucid dream to problem solve. It was a good mental exercise until it became normal to think that way.
Nothing that I want hard enough seems out of reach anymore.
I find this aspect of living in Europe frustrating as well. The general attitude of people is that children should never be seen anywhere in public during school hours, because if they are, it’s a red flag for a “neglected child”. I try to teach my boys independence on various levels. So if we go out grocery shopping, and they want to visit the toy shop, or go explore a different part of the shop, I let them. If they find something they want to buy, they have to calculate everything themselves and use their own money. When they go through their own checkout queue alone, they often get the “Where are your parents?” question…even though they are completely capable to doing all of this themselves. It’s frustrating, but we just try to ignore it and carry on as normal as best we can. But we have the luxury of living in one of the few EU states that DOES allow homeschooling…so I understand why you would choose to lay low.
Yes… Because we’re French living in Spain some people just think we’re tourists if we’re on the beach during “school time”, but I prefer don’t go out those hours, just in case… My yougest son is going to school from last year, he likes it, but my oldest son (14) is gifted and school was always a bad experience, included the school where is little brother is going now, so we homeschool. The law in Spain forces you to send your kids to school until they are 16… So we still have almost two years before being free :-)
I’ve been here two weeks.
I’ve learned to say, “Thank you for being concerned about the safety of my child. They are taken care of and OK. We don’t need to do anything different at the moment, but again thanks for your concern.”
That settles it.
(I could get into how this came about (child asking questions to a keeper at a shop/child paying his own bus fare/ child window gazing) , but as the other posters suggest people here are the parenting police- everywhere)
Holy cow!
Maybe you can develop a foreign accent and pretend you’re tourists when it suits you ;)
Wow, I am not a mother yet, but I really enjoyed reading his article, It all makes sense. It’s sad that in many countries homeschooling is prohibited, I feel the interest of governments sometimes is directed only on how to train kids through school systems, be just one more fish into the can.
This is your best education post yet. It’s so practical and immediately applicable. And born out of a ton of experience. Thank you!
This comment is so helpful to me, Becky. You give me sort of a blueprint of how to write posts on this blog. I’m going to try to do more like this.
Penelope
I agree. I printed this one out and hung it on the fridge. It’s fantastic.
My boys (6 and 7) started selling jokes on our corner this summer.
They liked it so much they got a booth at the farmers market (our local market has a young entrepenuers program where they can rent a booth for $2.50, plus there are classes for older kids).
I thought there was no way someone would pay to hear a joke from little kids, but they made a lot of money.
And they learned– giving half to charities = more buyers. And asking for donations = more money than a set price. And giving away a freebie brings in more customers.
I learned to sit back and let them handle everything. Except carrying the table. I carried the table.
The very last line made me laugh out loud.
Thank you for that. I needed it today because I had no coffee. And I am alone in the office so I can laugh all I want.
This is a great comment!
You and James Altucher have eerily similar advice. From his post today:
“Failure” is the hip new word. People say, “you have to fail to succeed.” This is not true. Failure is the fastest way to becoming a failure.
Instead, view everything as an experiment. Every experiment has problems. As Peter Thiel says, “Get good at solving hard problems”.
When something doesn’t work out, see how you can make it 5% better the next time. There’s always a next time.
This post is so great in so many levels!
Thank you so much!
I was a nervous wreck all the time. The sick-to-my-stomach feeling was so normal to me as a kid. But my parents always tried to get me to have lower standards so I would get rid of my anxiety. The message I got was: it’s not normal or okay to feel this way.
Now that I am older, as I get that feeling again, I just know that I’ve been through it so many times and that I’ve always found a way to turn the tide on my favor and come out on top.
I wish that instead of dismissing it my story had been one of learning to row with it. But I am for sure not letting this repeat itself with my kids!
Is this a sponsored post for surveybee.com? If so, it is brilliant.
I think all sponsored posts are specifically noted.
Impressive stuff. Terrific examples. I think Mark Cuban’s little ebook (“How to Win At The Sport of Business”) is great for kids (and adults) when it comes to entrepreneurship. BTW, he doesn’t believe in taking ANY outside capital, ever.
Teaching kids how to be more proactive and business-minded is something I have been trying to do for long time. I like your ideas, above all, the idea about treating the business or venture like a science experiment.
Also, in my opinion, to make our kids understand that every setback or failure in business is something super common and natural is a valuable lesson that they must learn in order for them to move forward.
Thank you for sharing your ideas. Keep up the good work!
My nearly 3 year-old’s favorite book is ‘people at work’. Sometimes she wants to work at the park and pass out balloons. Or brush goats at the zoo.
My husband and I are both freelancers and entrepreneurial. I tell her we like to work on her computers, but she can find something else to do if she wants. I know she can’t understand it all yet – but I tell her she doesn’t have to wait until she’s big, that she can find something to work on when she’s little and make money if she wants to. Or not. I tell her we work from home and anywhere we are – but that other people work in “the big office” ( a place my husband goes once a week). We tell her to pick something she likes, that sometimes it might feel a little boring, but should mostly be fun.
As she gets older, we’ll give her more context.
“There is no such thing as failure…there are only results.”
-Tony Robbins
My kids ask me all the time if they can start a business. Garage sale, jewelry, restaurant, selling baked goods, etc. I’ve never really know how to handle it, but your perspective is very enlightening. Thank you!