Children Helping with Soda Vending

Here are the promised pictures. These are my little helpers doing various tasks. Trevor is my ever eager child waiting for me to open the machine so he can see what can be done. He is full of energy and very helpful. Although he is only 3, he likes to show off his muscles and do what he can.

Evan, Trevor, and Breanna all got involved picking up coins after I cleared a coin jam from the machine. The kids are really good at picking up the coins that fall on the floor. They are learning the difference between quarters, nickles, and dimes. Working a vending route with children can lead to some teachable moments. Sometimes they have to have a little fun before they get any work done. This particular day, they decided that all of the coins in the coin collection box had to be thrown all over the floor before they could start picking any up. At least they got all of the coins collected eventually.

Breanna likes to help keep track of the locks for the soda machine. She is always finding little ways to help. I am amazed at the things she realizes that she can do to help. Breanna likes to stay close to the soda machine and picks up all the little things that we drop. She helps me gather all of the plastic rings from the sodas and collapse the empty boxes. She also likes helping collect the change when I am testing the machine. Breanna is not quite 2 yet, put she does a lot to try to help.

Trevor is very good at carrying out the trash. He has been helping with that job for the last year. The trick to letting the kids help remove the trash is to make sure the boxes are stacked neatly and do not slide apart. Evan usually helps also, but I wasn't able to get any pictures of him this day.

I never leave trash at the machine locations. Even though there is usually a trash can readily available, I do not want to create extra work for the location. If I threw all of my boxes in their trash cans, the cans would get full and someone would have to empty them out. For that reason, I always take my boxes and everything home with me.