A few months ago my youngest daughter, Jade, ran her first lemonade stand during our neighborhood’s annual flea market. It was a wonderful experience for both of us.

We got up early on a Saturday morning and made 5 gallons of lemonade. Jade made her signs advertising the lemonade for $ .50 a glass and then we were ready for business. After 4 hours of working the stand, Jade made $51.65. She was super excited.

But the lemonade stand was so much more than making money. We learned so many valuable life lessons.

1. Strengthened Math Skills
Jade just finished first grade and she worked all year on addition and subtraction. Now she was able to apply her skills in a setting where it really mattered. If you don’t get your math right when you are dealing with other people’s money (and your own), you can really suffer the consequences. At the lemonade stand, Jade ran her own cash register (with mommy’s oversight) and had count the money given to her and make change for people who bought lemonade. She was able to see the importance of having math skills and how the “stuff” you learn in school are the foundation for success.

2. Entrepreneurship
This lemonade stand was Jade’s own business. She went to the store and purchased the supplies, made the lemonade, did the marketing and learned about what a profit was. It taught her so much about running a business. She also learned how as a business owner, you are ultimately responsible for the business. At one point during the morning, she got bored (as you could expect of a 7 year old) and wanted to stop. I had to explain to her that it was her business and she had to run it. She could not rely on others to run her business. It was a great lesson as to what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

3. Giving Back
My girls have always been taught about giving. Whenever they get any money, they know that 10% has to go to church, 10% goes to savings and 10% goes to charity. Teaching children about giving means a lot more when it is money that they earned. After all receipts were in, Jade had the opportunity to choose something very special to her that she wanted to support. She was so proud to donate her money to a worthy cause to help a family in need.

At the end of the day, I know we both got so much out of this experience. This was truly more than a lemonade stand.