SHOP GIRLS {week 34.10}… Shop Kids are Back in School
Last week’s trip to the LAKE was the last hurrah before the boys started school last Wednesday. 1st Grade for the big boy, new preschools for the other boys. I’m very ready, like every other Momma in the world, for a routine and some rules to live by for a while. It was a great, though, having the 1st grader with me in the store every day this summer…
{Delivery basket designed for Shop Kid scooters for the purpose of delivering notes from one store owner to another.}
Some of my closest girlfriends in our little town are also store owners and have their kids in the store with them also. It’s really the best of both worlds ~ we get to have jobs we love and we also get to have the kiddos get off the bus and be with us every afternoon. It’s not all fun and games, of course… my boys have had to endure many hours of a whole lotta’ nothin’ while I was trying to get work done on the computer, and they all are under strict orders to be under the best of behavior when there are customers in the store, which means Mom can be a real killjoy.
{Early morning breakfast meeting this summer to plan the 10 Mile Trail Antique Show, Moms at one table, kids at the other, taking care of business.}
And then there is the issue of the Mom who sells everything we ever own. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve purchased something at a sale or resale shop and the boys have BEGGED me not to sell it in the Cactus Creek Store. They have finally started to realize that {almost} nothing is off limits when it comes to me selling it. They’ve even started getting in on the act asking if they can sell some of their toys & clothes when they’re finished with them.
{yet another antique mall out in the middle of nowhere… My mantra in antique malls, “boys, stay with me. boys, cross your arms ~ no touching. BOYS, I SAID NOOOOO TOUCHING!!!”}
Our days off usually consist of running errands, half things for our family, half for the store, and every trip for errands includes at least one detour to a garage sale, estate auction or resale shop. The other day one of my shop-owner friends took her little boy to his FIRST-EVER day of preschool twenty minutes late because they were at an estate sale. {I’ll leave names out but you know who you are.}
At the Cactus Creek Store we are lucky because of the room we have for the boys… they have a sofa to rest on, a tv & an art station. Some stores have little to no room for the shop kids and you can find forts made under clothes racks and homework being done in the corner of the sales floor. I find all of this endearing because it’s the sweet spot of my life, sharing my days & my love for my store with my boys every day.
For Shop Kids, the front door of the store is where they learn kindness ~ the sales counter is where they learn math ~ the back room is where they learn to organize and plan ~ and the sales floor is where they have their first go ’round as entrepreneurs ~ and the alley way is where they get rowdy.
There are good days and bad days at the cash register, but in the end it’s about living a rich life which we are managing to do. This Fall the middle child will be with me at the store more, he started last Friday. The biggest job the boys have so far is to make sure that the OPEN & CLOSED signs are on the door ~ but before long they’ll be carrying furniture around and helping me work the floor ~ then I’m looking for a good business manager and accountant… you think they can fill in those departments by the fifth grade?? kidding of course. kind of.
Hope you and your tots also got off to a great start at school!!!! lvya,fancy
** Click HERE for more SHOP GIRL Posts **
{SUBSCRIBE} HERE to have the CactusCreekDaily.com BLOG delivered straight to your E-Mailbox!!
August 25th, 2010 at 8:00 am
I was a shop kid. My mom owned a ladies clothing boutique and my dad owned a motorcycle dealership. At the age of 5 my dad discovered that I was his best sales person. No one could say no to me, lol. At 12, I was dressing windows and creating merchandising plans for the boutique. At 15 in was sneaking into the Americas Mart and every sales rep LOVED me cause I made my mom buy more. It was a great way to grow up. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.