a pop up shop
This past Sunday afternoon, while most children across the nation were still watching cartoons and eating Pop Tarts in their pajamas, my enterprising 7-year-old was hard at work manning a Therapy Pop-Up.
Why yes Maya…I do have problems, am stressed out, and am mad. And your arbitrary capital letters aren’t helping…
Initially Maya’s marketing ploy was to yell, “My shop is open!” from the doorway of her room. When that tactic yielded no customers she toured the house with a sign that read“Follow Me for Therapy.”
A mobile advertisement, if you will.
I was so preoccupied that my daughter used the word “therapy” that I had no choice but to stop cooking dinner (read: assembling a no-bake noodle lasagna) and investigate further.
Maya: “Do you have a problem I can help you with?”
Me: “Yes, I do. Your father won’t stop leaving his socks all over the place. What should I do?”
Maya: “You could buy more hampers and put them around the house.”
Me: “But he leaves them in the living room. I can’t put a hamper in the living room, can I?”
Maya: “I guess not. What if you stop making him food until he starts cleaning up his socks?”
Me: “Okay, I can do that. Thanks for the advice.”
Maya: “That’ll be $1.00. Also, here’s the address of my massage store. We do good massages that will calm you down until Dad starts putting his socks in the hamper.”
Don’t I look calm? The $1 was worth it.
As I walked away with a business card, a potential solution for a 13-year-old sock problem, a new-found respect for my daughter’s upselling abilities, and fear in my heart that my 7-year-old knows too much for her age, Maya said, “Oh, and Mama? I also give advice on the phone and by Skype.”
I think I need someone to help me explore how I feel about all of this.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
Oh my gosh Ameena, seriously, I am laughing out loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay this is hysterical I tell you. “You could stop feeding him…” that is awesome. I think this is one of my top five of the posts so far. This beats all Ameena. If I didn’t have seven kids and a husband I’d say, “I”m coming by plane right now to help you explore how you feel about this,” and I would tell ;you how magnificant your daughter is and that she is going places for sure!!!! And the fact that she isn’t like every other seven year old is something to celebrate. I love it!!!
The arbitrary capitol letters….Ameena you are a riot.
I love the picture and you do look calm and beautiful, your daughter is a genius.
Love to you always Ameena. Take great care,
Shauna xoxxo
I wish you would come and visit! I can tell we’d get along fantastically.
Seven kids and you have time to comment? I just have no idea how you do it! How??
Hilarious!!! I actually laughed out loud :-).Maya is quite the tech-savvy business-woman. Make the most of it before she gets popular and her rates go up 🙂
I remember when she was selling her handmade greeting cards for $.10. And now she’s graduated to $1 therapy sessions! Crazy.
That is an amazing ability for a kid of that age. Kids who are conscious of business and money at an early stage do go on to do some great things in life – I feel Maya is in that category.
Maya had a great entrepreneurial spirit that I seemed to have missed! I do hope she’s far more successful than me. 🙂
Oh my goodness! She knows WAY too much ;). What a sweet little girl ❤
Katie
Way too much is right!
Be happy she is thinking about an occupation that is in high demand in the job market and always will be 🙂 When my daughter was her age, she wanted to be an ice cream maker. She is presently going to college now and gave up on that dream 😉
I think I wanted to be a weather girl. And my brother a hockey player. My parents put an end to that very quickly!
What is your daughter planning to do instead of making ice cream?
She’s majoring in business and minoring in dance at college.. We had to convince her that majoring in dance wasn’t an option. She has been dancing for 14 years (ballet, jazz, tap & lyrical/modern). She is an excellent dancer and I am not saying that because she’s my daughter. She teaches a class at her studio and has been in drama since grade school and actually choreographed her last 2 high school drama productions. I wasn’t trying to quash dreams of dancing but I am realistic. How many prima ballerinas have you seen that are 5 foot tall w/ DD you know whats? I see her possibly opening her own dance studio one day. Or with her business degree, maybe she can become the CEO of Ben and Jerry’s. Hopefully, I’d get some kind of discount.
I think you are doing the right thing, for what it’s worth. I think that I’m too realistic to let Maya pursue the arts as a full-time job. She’s super creative! Crazy since neither me nor Ali have a creative side.
And CEO of Ben and Jerry’s? Talk about a dream job. I hope your daughter ends up loving what she does. She’s lucky to have a mom like you to guide her along!
An enterprising 7 year old? You should be so proud Ameena! Being available to talk in person, by skype and phone (genius!) A great business venture Maya- do you buy any chance accept questions through your mama’s blog? I have a few questions and also do you accept your fees in £s?
I can sense you are going to be very therapeutic for me. 🙂
Fees in other currency? I love it. I bet, if Maya understood how to comment here, she’d say she doesn’t discriminate…all currencies are welcome!
Perfect! And also why have I never thought to strategically place hampers around the house! : ). Such a simple solution! I love her upsell.
Because you don’t want a hamper next to your living room sofa…Maya didn’t quite think that one out. 🙂
Your kid is brilliant.
I have so many problems that need solutions and I might just take her up on that Skype option.
Insane that she knows how to operate Skype at her age! I just can’t get over it.
Didn’t Lucy in Charlie Brown only charge a nickel? Inflation is out of control…
Agreed! I’ll have to have her watch Charlie Brown to put pricing into perspective.
HAHA! Love this and love Maya. Maybe she can come help me with “my husband won’t put aways his laundry” problems. We can Skype. 🙂
Wait…your husband DOES laundry? I mean that right there? Half the battle.
I love this. She’s a succesful businesswoman in the making. Go Maya! She’s so smart and cute! Great picture of you (& your hair) and Maya.
Thanks Lydia! I always appreciate your generous comments. 🙂
Your sock dilemma – Maya is brilliant!
So nice of you to say Heather. 🙂
This should keep you smiling all day! Yeah… like walk into the elevator smiling, pile up groceries…smiling! It is that sort of a proud moment. Proud of Maya for being able to take on an ambitious project (opening shop – never easy) and completing it full cycle! Such vision, and clarity on process is beyond awesome for a 7 yr old. As a Business Consultant in my pre-mom life, I should know. You should be proud of yourself too for raising her so & proud of Ali for……. lets just say not coming in your way?LOL!! JK 🙂
PS – Maya is beginning to beat you in the ‘looking gorgeous’ dept. Yet another reason to be proud of 🙂
Such a nice comment…all of it! As a business consultant I appreciate your insights into Maya’s set up. 🙂 I’ll let her know she has a fan.
And thanks for all the compliments. 🙂
I want to eat her up. She’s so smart.
She’s way smarter than I was at 7. And maybe even at 37?
What a smart little business minded cookie! Great idea about handling your sock problem. Let me know how it goes!!
We both know that the fallout from no making Ali food would be way worse than having to pick up his socks. Unfortunately!
Kids are the Best. I am Loving how Her little Mind is spinning, and Upselling, yes that’s always a good Trait in the business World. She’s a regular Peanut Character, was It Sally? Anyway, props to Maya for trying to find solutions And make money At the same time.
Love the arbitrary caps. For a second I was like, “What on earth?” But then it clicked. I love it!
Someone else commented about Charlie’s Brown’s friend Lucy having her own business…too cute.
This is hilarious!! I am totally laughing out loud. Your daughter is very very cool and a fantastic saleswoman.
Thanks Sabera! I appreciate the very kind comment!
I’m blown away by her entrepreneurial spirit. Where can I sign up for a session? I do Skype. 🙂
We should have the kids Skype one day…wouldn’t that be amazing?
this is honestly the funniest thing ive read in a long time.
I want a skype session!!!
Thanks Rose! It’s always great to read a comment from you!
Maya is awesome..So enterprising ..I guess I could learn a trick or two from her…through Skype, ofcourse..:)
She is far more enterprising than I ever was / am! Crazy how that works.
Maya’s entrepreneurial spirit both impresses and cracks me up. She is clearly going places. Which means I better book my therapy appointment asap 😉
I’m hoping we can make a house call soon. Not sure why I can’t seem to get up to SF to see you!
Your daughter is too cool for school.
(That’s why she doesn’t heed such petty things as capital letters).
She’d probably agree she’s too cool for CAPS. I love it.
Your child is the best. That’s all I have to say about that.
Thank you Leah. 🙂
Ah, a budding entrepreneur! And a brilliant one at that!.Would love to know what advice Ali received :lol::
Such a good question…I wonder what he asked her? It was probably how to make his wife less annoying. 🙂
lol! i’d say that is some pretty sound advice 😉 hit em where it hurts….the stomach 🙂
It’s always the stomach…or the car, right?
Your daughter is brilliant. This also probably explains her aversion to doing her book reports – she was too busy planning for her grand opening!
Her aversion to book reports is due to laziness. Plus nobody is paying her…
wow, kids these days! i didn’t even have the dedication to man a lemonade stand 🙂
Me neither! I was way too shy and dull to do anything of the sort.
maya is a smart businesswoman! :).
She’s way smarter than me!
Can I please book a skype session with Maya? She is so adorableeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. That $1 was will be worth it. Let me know if you end up trying that massage coz I could totally use that service any time 😛
I say this with all seriousness: Maya gives amazing massages. Her fingers are so strong! And she provides a foot bath service too. It’s really quite remarkable.
she’s one lil brilliance budding at your home 🙂
Thanks Asma. 🙂
lol…and you once said you wish you had a therapist…congratulations!!! haha she’s a keeper.
I guess my new therapist isn’t too objective?
She is a bright little thing, isn’t she!
Definitely way smarter than I was / am!
Haha this made me laugh…a therapist come entrepreneur who’s already keeping up with technology from such a young age- Maya is a girl of many talents and in for an extremely successful future 🙂
I hope so! I want her to be everything I wasn’t but wanted to be. 🙂
LOL! This was hilarious… I don’t even think I needed to read what you wrote, the first picture had me laughing. SO CUTE! I know, you have to wonder where is she coming up with this stuff, perhaps she has friends in school and their parents go to therapy. Who knows? Awww.. loved how she wrote that you should put a hamper in the living room.. lol. Only if we could think like a kid, problems would be solved so much easier. She is so cute! She may consider psychiatry Ameena… a doctor child! 🙂
I think most of this stuff must come from school…can’t imagine where else!
And a doctor child…every Indian mom’s dream. 🙂
This is cute, funny and amazing all at the same time! The sign is adorable. And Maya is really, really sharp Ameena…she has entrepreneurial skills I am yet to develop! I doubt any other kids her age would have thought of something like this. Now if she could actually invent a tool that prevented husbands from leaving socks all over the house, she’ll be a billionaire in no time.
I have zero entrepreneurial spirit so I love that she has what I’m lacking!
A billionaire…too funny.
My gosh your daughter is so smart and gives good advice! Sometimes our kids behave like our parents ( & better at it too) 🙂
Better at it is right. 🙂
Between her triatholons, pop up booths, useful insight on manipulating spouses, and apparent ability to use skype at an age I was scared to use the phone at, that Maya could give anyone an inferiority complex. She’s quite the Renaissance girl…
She’s kind of giving me an inferiority complex….I couldn’t do half of what she does when I was 7!
An absolute entrepreneur, found a niche, markets it, advertises and offers easy follow up. Plus she’s looking to solve the problem you didn’t know you had with the massages. She’ll go sooooo far! GG
Thanks GG…I hope so!
Impressive business savvy, Maya. However, I’d hold off on Skype. Kids and Skype should be limited to family only. At least, that’s what my nieces use it for.
Absolutely…Maya only uses Skype for family and friends. I wouldn’t really let her consult strangers. 🙂
Maya is turning into such a beautiful young lady!!
I love that Maya is a mini entrepreneur. My cousin started making duct tape pens at the age of 7. He even made business cards to attach to the pens and had my aunt leave them at the nail salon. He sold over 100 of them at $4 each.. Maybe we need to take some notes!?
Amazing! What a cute kid. How old is he now? So curious what he’s doing if he’s older?
He’s 13 now. He’s still making items though – duct tape wallets, clutches, purses and whatever else you can imagine.
Maybe I’ll see him on Shark Tank one if these days? 🙂
Love it! That’s quite the entrepreneurial spirit. Sounds like she’s got just the skills she needs. 🙂
I hope so! I want her to be everything that I’m not. 🙂 And that’s a lot of things!
Next time negotiate, ask for the family discount.
cg
I love it Will! 🙂
hahaha amazing, this is quite a change from the lemonade stand I manned as a kid. Certainly more lucrative as there is no out of pocket expense 😉
I was too shy to even do a lemonade stand so kudos to you Rhonda!
Maya is the cutest! And so entrepreneurial. I get random caps with my 9yo too. Not sure why they do that. But, he is too busy playing Dragonvale to bother with opening a massage shop.
Dragonvale…I haven’t even heard of it! The difference between having a girl versus a boy is the lack of interest in video games I guess?
Let her know from me that people rarely do what you suggest.
And you are an expert! I’ll let her know. 🙂
I am always impressed with how smart, quick and witty you are Ameena but this Maya- she’s giving you a run for your money. Upselling, bribery, business skills, good looks- this girl is trouble (or completely set). I worry if Maya meets Myles (my manipulator) they would con the world.
The two M’s? Might be something to that?
As a business owner, I’m quite impressed with Maya – always have been, but this time for her entrepreneurship.
On behalf of Maya, thank you.
I’m always impressed with those who can own their own businesses! It’s a lot of work.
No way! Can I have Maya’s Skype address? I have some problems she might be able to fix…
I need to establish her one…something like, “TherapistMaya.” LOL
What a wonderful, wonderful post again Ameena! I’m going to have to reblog this as I think it is too good not to be shared! Your daughter is so, so clever! Very scary indeed! 🙂
Thank you Ken! Will check out your reblog. 🙂
Ken over at kenthinksaloud was right. This made me genuinely LOL. Loved your pretty faces, too. 🙂
Thank you Addie! I appreciate the compliment and the comment. 🙂
Maya is so smart! I could learn a few upselling tricks from her! Enjoyed the post, immensely
Thank you Anita!
My friends and I made up so many money-making schemes when we were younger, and this post reminded me of that. Perhaps business school is in Maya’s future ;)?
Oh my gosh! Maya is oozing with so much talent. Bottle it up, lady!
Loved this. She is really good at running a business. 🙂
Kids involve themselves fully in their games and have amazing imagination. But sad that as they grow up they lose the ability and become too logical.
hahaha your daughter is adorable!!