'Mama, How Can I Make Some Money?'

'Mama, how can I make some money?'

This is usually the reply, when Adam gets it in his head that he wants me to buy something, and for whatever reason, I've said no.

I try to give him a few options to that question.

Sell some of his old toys (yes, we give others away too), see if the neighbours need any yard work done.

Heck ... do the yard work at our own house and I'd up his allowance!


On a couple of occasions, he's come to me with the idea of selling *insert item here* door to door.

I nixed those proposals. I don't like the idea of pushing trinkets on neighbours.

If it's the occasional raffle for school, that's one thing, but not simply to make a bit of pocket change.


Around the same time he was having the stomach issues last month, he told me of his latest idea.

He was going to make bracelets (the braided yarn type) and sell them for $0.25-50 each (or something small like that), to friends, family and neighbours.

Once again, I told him I wasn't crazy about the idea, as bracelets fell under that whole 'trinket' umbrella.

I did, however, give him an alternative, and said 'I'll tell you what. If you want to make the bracelets, and your friends want to buy them - no bugging people though - you can then give the money you make to charity?'

He thought about it for a minute.

To be honest, I was sure he was going to immediately shoot down the idea.

I was sure in his mind, the whole point was to make some cash for his own pocket; not work for it, then give it away.

So I was very proud when instead he said, 'How about Johnny* and I make and sell them, and we can give the money to the IWK?'

Well now. I thought that was a GREAT idea!


Over the past month, took his little baggie of change he'd collected to school, along with the colourful bracelets and extra string.

And each night, he brought it home again with a bit more money inside.

We didn't count it daily, but every now and then, I'd ask him, 'How are you doing with your bracelet sales?'

He'd always reply, 'Good. It was a good day.' And that was it. No more.

On one hand, I still wasn't crazy about the idea of him 'selling stuff' to people.

I had visions of him at school, during recess, going up to his classmates, the schoolyard pusher ... in a Lefty & Ernie kind of way.

On the other hand, I knew that whatever money he raised would go to charity, so I wasn't as uneasy with him him showing a bit of entrepreneurial / fundraising spirit.



Today, Adam had an appointment at the IWK Health Centre, with the pediatric specialist who was following up on the recurring stomach issues.

Since the IWK Telethon starts tomorrow, we decided yesterday would be the last day for bracelet sales, so we could bring his donation with us today.

Last night, we counted it all out.

$46.60

WOOHOO!

Awesome!

Unfortunately, what I didn't realize, was that they didn't accept donations at the actual hospital. We had to go down to the bank instead.

So once we were finished with his appointment, off we went.

And after Mama topped it up, he made a final donation, in the name of Adam and Friends, of $51.00 to the IWK Telethon for Children.

This annual telethon raises money for the Childrens Miracle Network.

"an international non-profit organization that raises funds for more than 170 children’s hospitals, 14 of which are in Canada.

Donations to organizations that support Childrens Miracle Network create miracles by funding medical care, research and education that saves and improves the lives of more than 2.6 million Canadian children each year.'

... taken from the IWK Health Centre Foundation - Childrens Miracle Network website

I know the end result wasn't his original intention, when he first asked me over a month ago, 'Mama, how can I make some money?'

But ya know what?

I think he was proud of himself today.

And I really hope he knows how proud I was of him today, too!

You ROCK, Adam!

And thanks much to all the kids, friends and family who donated their money to a great cause also!

K.