My parents did this it me in the early 00s - offering a quarter for every book report during the summer. 30-50 hours of work for ~5$ to buy a new beanie baby was a really good deal for 10 year old me. My reading and writing level ended up being much higher than my peers.
The best investment is parents having a primary or part time business in which children can gainfully participate, the earlier the better. As simple as this.
Why parents need to have business? Because idiotic US laws prohibit children under 12 to work for hire in other than family businesses and severely limit 12-18 employment, unless in family business.
What business? Somewhat depends on what skills you want to teach, but any business is better than none. Margaret Thatcher worked in her parents store. I helped my father to publish math books and textbooks for middle and high schoolers. My kids worked in my IT consulting side gig. My friend’s kids worked in family online shop business.
> "Children behind bank counters, in city councils, as mayors, as newspaper and television editors, as employees in registration offices, as workers in a furniture workshop, in a stonemason’s workshop – naturally, none of that is possible. They lack all the prerequisites, we think. Not just in ability, but also in seriousness, in accountability, in responsibility. And besides, child labor is forbidden, in their own interest, as we like to say. And so we let them grow up in the children’s ghetto, let them dream of what will happen “when I grow up someday.” They remain, as if it were only natural, locked out of the serious realities of life – immature, in need of supervision, not to be taken seriously."
My parents did this it me in the early 00s - offering a quarter for every book report during the summer. 30-50 hours of work for ~5$ to buy a new beanie baby was a really good deal for 10 year old me. My reading and writing level ended up being much higher than my peers.
The best investment is parents having a primary or part time business in which children can gainfully participate, the earlier the better. As simple as this.
Why parents need to have business? Because idiotic US laws prohibit children under 12 to work for hire in other than family businesses and severely limit 12-18 employment, unless in family business.
What business? Somewhat depends on what skills you want to teach, but any business is better than none. Margaret Thatcher worked in her parents store. I helped my father to publish math books and textbooks for middle and high schoolers. My kids worked in my IT consulting side gig. My friend’s kids worked in family online shop business.
Ideally you would replace schools with miniature cities, see here an essay about Mini-Munich that I translated: https://minicities.substack.com/p/serious-play-mini-munich-something
> "Children behind bank counters, in city councils, as mayors, as newspaper and television editors, as employees in registration offices, as workers in a furniture workshop, in a stonemason’s workshop – naturally, none of that is possible. They lack all the prerequisites, we think. Not just in ability, but also in seriousness, in accountability, in responsibility. And besides, child labor is forbidden, in their own interest, as we like to say. And so we let them grow up in the children’s ghetto, let them dream of what will happen “when I grow up someday.” They remain, as if it were only natural, locked out of the serious realities of life – immature, in need of supervision, not to be taken seriously."