Here is a brand new short chapter excerpt from my new book ONO: Options not Obligations.  This is one of several stories in the book about my son, Jaken, and his initial exposure to money, business, saving, and responsibility.  This is one of my favorite stories and I hope you enjoy it too.   

“Strawberries—Two Dollars!”

It took a long time for me to really understand the nature of wealth and the importance of financial responsibility. As a father and a Family First Entrepreneur, I did not want my sons to have the same hurdles to jump. I vowed, even before they were born, to teach them how to handle money and have a true appreciation for it. This is the story of my three year-old son Jaken’s first  entrepreneurial experience and his introduction to financial responsibility.

The story began when Jaken and I were looking through a catalog one day and he spotted a toy he really wanted. He asked me, “Daddy, can I please have that?” He had a basement full of toys at the time, and the last thing he needed was another one to add to the collection, so I told him, “You have lots of toys, and I don’t really want to buy you another one right now.” That was when it hit me; this would be a great opportunity for me to teach my son about how to earn money. So I said, “I will not buy you that toy, but I will help you make some money so that you can buy it for yourself.” His face lit up.

We have a giant organic strawberry patch in our garden. It produces more strawberries in one day than my family can eat in a week. I decided that a fun and easy way to make some money with Jaken would be to pick little bags of strawberries, set up a stand outside our house, and then sell them to people in our neighborhood. We started picking and soon had a table full of bags. We made signs that said, “Jaken’s Organic Strawberries.” Organic strawberries are usually expensive, but I had no intention of making a large profit, I just wanted Jaken to have a successful experience, so we priced each bag at only two dollars.

We live in a subdivision where almost everybody has to drive by my house in order to get to theirs, so we had a perfect spot to set up. Cars started coming by shortly after five, and I had Jaken in position. I had him wave to make sure he got people’s attention as they passed by. So there he was, a three-year-old sitting at a little table, waving and smiling at every car that drove by.

It was a successful venture. People couldn’t resist Jaken and his smile. They couldn’t turn around fast enough to come back and buy his strawberries. It was crazy, complete with screeching tires. When people approached the table, Jaken was so nervous that all he could say was, “They’re two dollars. It’s two dollars.” He couldn’t find any more words than that.

They’d pay him, and with utter delight, he’d quietly smile and tuck the money away. We counted his money as we were going along so he could really get a grasp of the “wealth” he was accumulating.

In the first 35 or 40 minutes, there were times when we had people actually waiting in line. We soon ran out of full bags, so I ran up to the garden and started picking strawberries as fast as I could in order to get him more. I had no idea it would go as well as it did.

 After the flurry was over and we were out of strawberries, I sat him down and told him about the responsibility and duty that comes with having money. I explained to him that this money, as well as any other money that he made in the future, would be split into three different accounts (or in his case, piggybanks). I told him that he was allowed to do whatever he wanted with 70 percent of his earnings. Guess what we went shopping for that next day? Yep, that toy. Of the remaining 30 percent, 20 percent would go into a savings account, and 10 percent would be given to a charity of his choice.

I explained what these things meant. I broke down the concept of saving and investing into three year-old language. Trust me, it’s harder than it sounds. I also told him what it meant to donate money to a charity and at the same time attempted to explain the value of time. I told him that people in need can be helped by both the gift of money and the gift of time, that giving time is often as valuable, if not more valuable, than giving money.

Jaken learned some awesome lessons that day: lessons about hard work and running a business, about making money, and most importantly, about how to handle money unselfishly and responsibly. Entrepreneurism is a great concept to teach children when they are young. It is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give them.

There are many other fun ideas for teaching your children about how to make and handle money on my site — Fun Entrepreneurial Ideas for Children