All Children Deserve ‘Lemonade Stand’

By Kimberly Hudson

As I consider ways to instill love of learning in children, I often focus on helping children discover their own passions.

Simply giving a child a computer, book, assignment or worksheet is inadequate.

An activity, a hobby, a passion – something that genuinely interests your child – can become the fertile ground for you to elaborate and extend their learning.

Developing inspiration and passion for learning in children will ultimately impact our world in a positive way.

All of us crave a purpose in life but none so strong as that of a child.

Let me give you an example.

Sophia, age 8, loves animals and animals love her back.

Every time she sees a dog or cat she runs up to it without fear.

It is as if the animals could sense her love, care and compassion.

She wanted to raise money to help abused animals, but how?

Sophia and her mom came up with a plan for a bake sale in front of a heavily traveled store.

Sophia invited her friends to join in and eventually a few parents helped out as well.

The kids planned the menu, packaging, which family would make each dessert and then illustrated the menu pricing for customers.

Sophia asked the humane society if their staff would attend the bake sale and bring animals that needed to be adopted.

The day of the bake sale, several animals found homes, and Sophia and her friends earned $105 to help abused animals.

Unified by a single-minded goal, the children pulled together to become a band of entrepreneurs.

Out of the passion of one little girl, several lives changed as each child became a baker, advocate, marketing specialist, illustrator, accountant, sales manager and event planner.

By giving children their own “lemonade stand,” minds pulled together to create good from the love and passion of one curious little girl.

You can teach a child a lesson for a day, but isn’t it better to develop a passion in them that will help them change the world, at least their little corner of the world?

The Curious Edge is dedicated to challenging each child’s curious mind, no matter their gifts and limitations.

So many of the students we see feel like failures because they don’t fit in the “box.”

We hope to inspire them all to be their best and find their passion and their own “lemonade stand.”