Empty your ash tray, make a child happy

My advise for the day: Always stop and buy something from kids selling stuff on the side of the road.

My son saw that several yellow pear tomatoes were ripe for the picking in our garden the other day, and had the uncontrollable urge to sell from our front yard. It reminded me of me when I was a kid, always the entrepreneur, so I decided to help him out. I helped him pack the tomatoes in little baggies, and made the sign for him, to which he added several small pear tomato drawings.

Normally by this time, the preparation deflates his urge, and he's on to something else. I guess he's growing up a little (8 years old) and his attention span held out. My daughters felt his enthusiasm and wanted to take part as well (they are 5 and 3).

We live on a semi-busy street, so I told him that I would be sitting on the porch to watch, but the rest was up to him. He ran back and forth waving his arms as the cars passed, and the girls followed right behind. I just smiled to myself thinking that people would stop just because they looked so darn cute.

People looked alright, but no buyers. So my son grabbed a couple baggies and waved them around. After several cars drove on by, his brain began coming up with marketing schemes. "I need to move closer to the street"... No, I wouldn't let him. "Maybe I should tie the baggies to the end of a stick and stick them out right in front of the cars!" Hmmmm...

It was getting to be dinner time and not a single taker. I felt bad but had to pull the plug. Our street is not the safest place for young children to hang out all by themselves. My son was reluctant, but relented, totally bummed.

My kids would have gone apes if just one person stopped to buy, just one. But there wasn't a single person willing to empty their ash tray to make some children happy. It just reminded me to make sure I stop and buy lemonade, or tomatoes, not for me, but for the kids.