Don't worry about the haters. Instead, use the time to work with your son and count the money! Not sure how old your son is but when mine first asked to start his firewood stand, he was a little shy of his 7th birthday. I used scrap lumber from a neighbor who was tearing down their deck. We built it together in about an hour. It was small and insignificant and held $45 in wood total. I thought nobody would buy any. The first week a couple neighbors each bought $5-$10 worth and man oh man, the excitement he got when he saw money in his lockbox will forever be in my mind and heart. Through my wife and I posting information and pictures of him and his stand on our local town facebook pages, it took off. The first winter, he got off the bus many days to an empty stand and $45 in his lockbox. The excitement wore off some for him when the weather was lousy and he knew he had to refill his stand. On days like that is when my wife or I would go out and help him. Fast forward to now, he has a stand that holds $240 worth of wood which needs restocking at least once a week during our peak winter months. He now also sells pine in the warmer months for fire pit. He did have some issues with theft and we put a sign along the lines of "if you steal wood, just know you're stealing from an 8yo. If you're cold, knock on our door and we will help you stay warm" The Philly news stations came out and did a story on him and since then, theft has been almost zero. It has been a very rewarding experience for all of us in my family. Just yesterday, I helped him stack wood for about 45 minutes (I hate stacking wood, but I loved the time spent with him) His success has been mind boggling to both me and my wife as well as anyone else we know. People love supporting a kid. Best wishes to you and your son.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Would love to see your boy have the same success as mine!
Best thing you can do, IMO, is to prove him wrong. Wood’nt it be awesome if your son built a large bank account while learning the values you are teaching? Win-win. Keep up the good work. Some day your son will be more great full than he ever thought possible. I used to hate cutting and carrying firewood growing up. Now some 35+ years later, I’m busting azz hoarding.. you guessed it.. firewood. Not only for me but for mom and dad as well. What better way to show them the values they instilled in me stuck. We have to keep this ideal alive and kicking.
While I am NOT wanting oil/gas prices go up, it just means our wood supplies are going up in value. $$ in the bank.
A boy who wants to start most any business will usually turn 0ut to be a fine man. We can help by encouraging them and also helping them through the rough times. What father would not want to help his son? Very, very few indeed. Teach them, help them, encourage them. That is what a good father does.
On that note get a sign that says smile you're on camera (or similar) as well. They may not see the camera but they will see the sign.
Now how old is your son now? If I remember right, you guys are doing bundles. Gonna have different size bundles? Will he be responsible for splitting, putting it, collecting the money at night? I can remember when I was young. Caught and sold night crawlers. As a teenager it became babysitting. My brother was the era of being a caddie. Since our backyard connected to the golf course, we'll it was all good.
One of my sons when he was 16 borrowed his brothers truck to go to work. A couple weeks before Halloween. Well after work he and his buddy decided it would it would be fun to trash some Halloween decorations. They got caught as a neighbor where they parked took down the license number. 12 o'clock the cops show up. Have to have a conversation with them. Of course son is present. They knew it involved 2 people. He refused to give up his buddy even though he knew it was going to be all on him. The next day made him go talk to the lady. Turns out she is a judge and was known for being one of the toughest judges in town. Turned out she wants it all replaced. Now this is coming out of his pocket. He went all over town (size 100,000) could not find any of the decorations. He asked me what to do. Told him to get his butt over and talk to her. She decided restitution. He was also grounded till he seen his parole officer. No phones or TV or games. Could go to school and work. No company. Basically under house arrest by us. When we went to see his parole officer I got there before my ex and son. He asked me what has been going on and told him. He said we were the first parents he had ever met to law down on our kid. But he still had to go in front of a judge. As far as we can figure, the parole officer was in contact with the judge and being he made restitution and grounded she elected to drop charges. He and his older brother would detassel corn in the summer before they got jobs up at the local grocery store.
Haters gon hate. Glad my FIL is of the right mindset. Hell, he’s more of a shameless wood hoarder than me! Here’s the old man standing by while I dropped some EAB wood at his place in NE Ohio back in 13.
