A Lesson in Economics

Today I’m visiting The Sadder But Wiser Girl’s blog with a Guest Post. I wrote a very honest piece about my younger son and I included a recipe there for these:

  

 

But these treats have a story, and it’s actually a story about my older son:

When my son was in 2nd grade, one of their lessons was on Economics. It culminated in a Bake Sale. The parents were asked to make three dozen cookies or small treats and the kids set up their own “stores” at their desks. They priced their treats between 5 cents and 25 cents. They’d have to sell their goods, assess their price strategy and make as much money as they could. All proceeds went to charity.

Family members were invited in to go through the “stores”, the students themselves were allowed to bring in 25 cents each and shop their peers’ stores, and many teachers in the school gave each of their students 25 cents and took their classes through the line. It was a great lesson.

I made the treats pictured above. My son priced them at 25 cents. One of the first groups through included the teacher from another participating 2nd grade class. She actually admonished my son, telling him to lower his price. She told him that his treats were the highest priced and asked who would want to buy just one of something when they could buy a number of items priced at 5 cents and 10 cents. My son answered that his treats were bigger than most and he wasn’t changing his price, he thought it was fair.

After she left I broached the subject. I told him that it was his choice, but that after a few groups went through the line he should consider whether or not his strategy was working. It’s fine to start out at what he thought the treats were worth, but if the consumers don’t agree and he isn’t selling them, he may need to lower his price. It’s about making as much as you can for charity, after all.

He stood his ground and I supported him. Right or wrong it was his lesson to learn.

My son’s treats were the very first and one of only a few to sell out completely. He single-handedly made the most money for the charity out of all of the 2nd graders in the whole school.

Take that Mrs. Meany-pants.

To read my post about my younger son and get the recipe for this special treat, please click on this link and read If You Fall Through The Cracks . . . Mom will catch you. It won’t cost you a penny.