This blog was written in partnership with Brother
My instagram handle has been WIFE | MAMA | LEMONADE HOGGER for as long as I’ve been in the digital world. I keep wanting to change it up + then I can’t make myself do it. LEMONADE is something my heart + mind visits every day. Life is full of sweets + sours. The photo above is our wedding announcement. We came across this darling little lemonade stand while we were driving to the spot for our shoot + felt like it was meant to be. Jon + I have been making lemonade all together since the day one.
One other quick throwback – I insisted the drinks at our reception were served from behind a lemonade stand. Back then it was harder for Jon to say NO to my crazy ideas, so sure enough – the night before our literal wedding day, he built, painted + drove a lemonade stand to Logan for me! He had little tiny paint dots alllll over his car for proof before we sold it!
Our kids have been the biggest part of our together dreams when it comes to business. We talk about it often – these sweet boys truly are our work hard motivator! When BROTHER reached out to partner for Lemonade Day activities do you know what I did? Yep, you guessed it. I cried. We have come full circle. In honor of Lemonade day, we got to sit down as a family + plan out our very own LEMONADE STAND! We drew out our business model, invented the lemonade flavors with funny stories that mean something to our family, Jonah drew the logo, Rigg wrote the name + our dream booth as a family. It was such a fun night, you should try it with your family! (And read to the end for details on how to enter your family into the Brother’s and Lemonade Day’s Best Stand Design Content)! Brother and Lemonade day will be choosing 3 winners!
Parents can help their kids submit lemonade stand designs here through Lemonade Day. Brother and Lemonade Day are choosing 3 winners, in 3 different age categories + each winner gets a $100 gift card to potentially help build out their lemonade stand dreams! Join with our family in teaching your kids to about entrepreneurship!
Here are a few basic business tips to help your children succeed:
GOALS : this is the one we are the most passionate about. GOALS ARE EVERYTHING. Goals are one thing that really stood out to me when I met Jon. He’s motivated, disciplined + determined to succeed. I’ve seen him cry like 4 times + one was holding our son Jonah in the hospital for the first time. A SON! And he hasn’t stopped teaching him the ways of working hard, being honest, + setting goals since that first day. We set yearly goals + monthly goals + share our highs + lows (sweets + sours) at dinner as a family each night. We try to stick with a basic thermometer graph to chart the course for whatever we are focusing on. Notice the lemonade cup printable? They got to color another step as we went through to design our business model. It’s a good object lesson as they see alllll the little things fill up the bucket + help us crush the end goal. It’s important to work backwards! If the goals are too big without a plan of attack – they won’t be as likely.
ATTENTION: Giving our kids the tools, doesn’t have to mean a budget or physical things. It’s taking the time to sit down with them – to talk through their hesitations. To let them know that they are loved no matter what. The business world is changing so much, they will pressure themselves naturally – I hope to be a soundboard + an unattached support system. Jon + I are in the thick of the grind, trying to grow 3 businesses between the 2 of us. But our family is the most important.
CONSISTENT TRUTH: I think hard working kids are harder to come by these days. It’s also hard as a parent not to just make your kid’s life utterly comfortable when you have the means to. I work 2 days a week from the office + have times during the day where I’m un-reachable to anyone outside of our home. I often bring the boys to meetings + they help empty the garbage, break down recycling + they’ve had their fair share of pulling orders. They help mop the basketball floor in Jon’s office after we play. They know how to change the oil in their motorcycles (or are currently learning) + they always order their own plates at restaurants. We don’t talk badly about people in our home. We have a Parrish Family Code + we say it every night before bed. THE LITTLE THINGS ARE THE BIG THINGS. They will remember how you made them feel before they remember what you said. Get scrappy + get down on their level. They are watching more than we think. Don’t shy away from the sweets + sours of life OR the sweets + sours of business. xx
As much as we wish we could hit the ground running with our newly designed plans, we know that the world is a little different. We had so much fun designing a lemonade stand + we plan take these little dreams to the next level in our new neighborhood. Design a stand with your kids this week! It was such a fun quarantine activity to do together at home.
xx.