My boy Max decided Sunday morning to sell some of his extensive video tape collection.  There are a lot of them he will never watch again such as the Sesame Street ones.  At 8:30 he had set up 3 tray tables side by side at the edge of our driveway.   Behind them he placed a green deck chair.   On top he stacked 24 tapes with a can behind them to put the money collected.  On the front was a sign that read “$1 each”.  Down on the corner he put a large sign that said “Movie Sale.  Starts at 9:30.”  He originally was going to put “9:30-4:30″ but I knew he wouldn’t last that long.  I convinced him that if he just specified the start time he could quit whenever he was ready.  But he couldn’t sit alone.  The closer it got to 9:30 the higher his anxiety level got.  He needed someone sitting beside him; it wasn’t enough that I would be mowing the lawn near him.

He has been trying to get into sales for some time now.  Like other 8 year olds he has gone the lemonade route.  He has also tried selling some of his toys in a tent on the front lawn.   He graduated into sales from buying.   He will buy anything; just the thought of buying something makes his day.   The things he gets hold his interest for about 5 minutes after he gets out of the store.

We never minded buying him little things, a pencil or pen, a super ball, or even a balloon.  When he started wanting bigger things we tried redirecting him.  I didn’t mind so much getting him rakes, shovels, or hammers.  I mean, I can always use those things but it was really time to teach him about money.

He has learned that we are not going to buy, buy, buy.  If he wants something he is going to have to earn the money to get it.  But how is he going to do this?  Sure, when I am working in the yard he joins me because he knows there are certain things I will pay him for doing.  He gets $1 for every leaf bag he fills up, whether it is with leaves, lawn clippings, or branches.

Since there aren’t a lot of things he can do around the house he started looking for other ways to make money.  He loves yard sales; if he sees one he has to go to it.  Neighbors who have them tend to give him the things he likes or charge him a small amount for them.  He has tried different things to make money and today was time for the videos.

Max has a problem with anxiety.   He has been diagnosed with high anxiety; it appeared during his first hospital stay. Before this he could play in the backyard for hours; since then someone always has to be with him.  It didn’t help that when he became a cub scout he had to learn all about what to do if a stranger approaches.  He can’t even call his friends; his Mom has to do it.

At 9:30 at the start of the video sale Mom was on her way to church. Before she left she had to stop and show him how to set them up. Max had just stacked them up this way and that. People would have to sort through them to find anything they liked. She set them up in categories, displaying each to make them easier to find.

While she was doing this the first car drove by. It turned around and parked across the street. A couple got out and crossed over. As they looked at the tapes they asked if there were any “adult” tapes; I mean PG and R rated. We had to tell them there weren’t any; they were all children’s tapes. After they left Mom found some more mature tapes Max could sell as well.

He waited a long time for someone else to come by. There were a lot of people that slowed down to check out the tables but they kept going. Finally a neighbor stopped over. She couldn’t find anything she liked but she gave him a donation anyway. His first “sale”; Max was excited.

Then we waited and waited. As time went on the more disappointed he became. His visions of making lots of money were disappearing. I explained to him that he was getting good experience but there were some problems. First, we live on a quiet side street so it is difficult for people to know that we are even here. Second, it is Sunday morning; people generally either got to church or spend a relaxing time reading the paper. The best time to sell would be Saturday morning when everyone is out getting things done. Especially in the summer when they are looking for yard sales; traffic picks up quite a bit on our street then.

I went back and sat on the house steps behind him. There was a bush in front of me that partially obscured me from the street. We are only two houses down from the main road and as I watched in that direction I saw a noisy small nosiy green Toyota drive passed. A few moments later it turned into our street coming from the other direction. As it came in front of our driveway it slowed down. There were 3 young men in it. They started checking out the table as the driver put the car in park.

As they started out of the car the driver finally noticed me sitting on the steps. The others were still slamming their doors as he sped off down the street. Later I met another neighbor of mine and mentioned the car. He and his wife had been out walking. He said the car had passed him a couple of streets away. He remembered wondering what they were doing in our neighborhood; they seemed out of place.

To be honest, I haven’t understood Max’s anxiety until now. Sure I have my own but maybe it was because I am not part of it. I mean I can sit on the stairs and watch him do things. But it always seemed like there would be no reason to be anxious if I were with him. That has changed for me. I think about those young men and I wonder, did they want to steal Max’s videos or were they more interested in stealing Max? I now don’t have a problem being around if he is outside; I want to make sure he is okay.

Max finally packed everything up and went indoors. He has discovered selling is hard work; especially if there are no sales and you are very anxious the whole time. Maybe we’ll try again on Saturday.