An expert explains it to me

By Lisa Canape

HappyNews Citizen Journalist

The daily news, monthly periodicals, and professional journals bombard us with messages of all the latest studies concluding how what we do, or what we don't do, will negatively affect our life expectancy or our quality of life. It's enough to make one feel stuck in hopelessness and despair in the futility of our effort.

I always wanted to be a good parent; what I didn't plan for was to be a single parent for my children's entire childhood. Yet, shortly after the birth of my youngest daughter, I became a single parent. The research had dire news about daughters being raised without a father's presence: low self-esteem, more likely to be a teenaged parent, more likely to drop out of school.

I felt that I had failed my daughter. The sense of failure resonated each time I heard a teacher or other professional lament, "Oh, she's from a single parent home." No matter how much I tried to do the things that I felt were right, I was terrified that she would be doomed by the conclusions declared by "the studies".

After a tiring day in graduate school, I walked to our apartment in the Village. The Village was student housing for families. As I approached my door, I noticed a flyer taped to the door, and on all of the other apartments. The flyer had an illustration of a cartoon picture of an exhausted looking woman in curlers, holding a child while ironing clothes. The caption read, "Does Midterms Have You Feeling Frazzled?" The flyer described cleaning services available while the customer has the opportunity to study for their exams--- prices negotiable. I almost put the flyer aside, and then I saw it. My daughter's name and our home phone number was listed on the bottom of the flyer! I was stunned, amazed, and really confused.

"What is this?" I asked my daughter. She explained that she decided to begin her own business. I stared at my ten-year-old daughter in awe, "How did you make the flyers?" We didn't own a computer; I had to do all of my graduate assignments at the school library. She explained that she had made arrangements with the manager in the Village office to use their computer. I was impressed. Still, I wondered why she had not discussed it with me, before she set her business plan into motion. She explained that she had just thought it up while I was in class, and wanted to get the flyers done before the office closed at 5pm.

I looked across the kitchen towards her bedroom. Her bedroom door was ajar. There were clothes, papers, and clutter strewed around. "You are going to clean other people's houses?" I asked in disbelief. She looked back at me sounding a little annoyed. "No, I don't clean houses. I'm management!" I was feeling perplexed, "but the flyer says to call you?"

She explained to me that she had a staff of other kids from the community who were the cleaners. Her job was to advertise, negotiate the prices for the jobs, and to arrange the schedules for her staff and the customers. She explained that being the manager of the business, she earned 50% of the negotiated price of every cleaning assignment."These kids actually clean the houses, and you get 50%?" I asked incredulously. "Why wouldn't they just clean the house and take 100% themselves?" Seeming annoyed by my apparent naivety about business; she explained that these kids primarily want to play; they didn't want to spend the time to promote getting cleaning assignments. They only wanted to earn money when they wanted the money.

"I have the responsibility to my workers to get them jobs whenever they want one; and a responsibility to my customers to get them a worker when they need one. Actually 50% is not much payment for all of the responsibility that I have in the business!"

I looked into my daughter's eyes, "Wow, I'm impressed." I have learned many things by reading books and listening to the experts. My daughter has taught me that experts are not always easily identifiable by their stature. I knew then that this ten-year-old woman child was going to be alright. I didn't need a study to prove it.