Kids get criticised so much nowadays for not showing enough initiative, taking their luxuries for granted and being selfish. You’d think that when kids show some drive and vision they’d be applauded for it.
Well, that’s not always the case I’m afraid.
When a group of children get together to raise money for pediatric cancer research, only to have their lemonade stand shut-down and slapped with a $500 fine, you know that there is something very wrong with the message we send kids.
After life dealt these kids a $500 fine, they kept making lemonade.
Four 10-year-olds who set up a lemonade stand a front yard near Congressional Country Club golf course, site of this year’s U.S. Open, were warned by Montgomery County officials to shut down their lemonade stand on Thursday.
On Friday, in a compromise, parents say the county agreed to let the stand stay open, just a few feet away from its original location.
Neighborhood kids set up a pop-up tent at the corner of Country Club Drive and Persimmon Tree Road. Thirsty golf fans had a chance to buy lemonade or other cold drinks for $2 a pop. The kids and their parents said that half the proceeds would go to a children’s charity.
The Montgomery County Department of Permitting said they were obstructing pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and wrote up the lemonade stand for operating without a license. The offense carries a $500 fine.
“What happened to the entrepreneurial spirit of this country,” one angry parent told NBC4’s John Schriffen on Thursday, “this is the American dream.”
Parents resolved not to move the stand, and to donate 100 percent of the sales to charity.
On Friday, parents said the county government relented, and allowed the stand to stay open. In a compromise, the tent got moved 100 feet down the road, away from the intersection.
“We’re really happy today because the kids are thrilled to be back in business,” said one of the mothers, “and the county said last night that they would not in their words ‘hassle the kids’ this weekend if they would just move their lemonade stand 100 feet down still on private property.”
The kids and their parents planned on giving the money to a race to benefit pediatric cancer research.
Suer a media backlash caused the fine to be waived and a compromise to be hatched up, but there shouldn’t have been a fine or a compromise. Adults must encourage kids to do things for others and get them to think beyond their own metrialistic vices. But when children do something that is selfless and sincere, it sends such a terrible message to try and undermine or interfere with their passion for wanting to make a real difference.
Why be content with the next generation simply following in our footsteps, when they are capable of so much more? Let’s support and encourage them to lean and improve upon both our strengths and weaknesses.
Tags: Charity, Children, Country Club Drive, Family, kids, Lemonade, Lemonade Stand, Montgomery County, Parenting, pediatric cancer research, Persimmon Tree Road, U.S. Open
Topical Teaching 
June 19, 2011 at 5:49 am |
A wonderful teaching moment for their children, learning about the dangers of government. They were already on their own private property. The lack of rational thought with the county officials is not surprising. What difference does moving the stand back 100 feet make? It is still on private property. Of course government employees are not among the brightest of the bunch.
June 21, 2011 at 2:06 am |
A $500 fine for operating without a license? Really? If a group of 10-year-olds can’t sell lemonade without the government getting their fair share in taxes, something is very wrong with the world.