11 year old nephew has been selling his drawings to classmates

umber_pool_551121 Oct 2026

I do school pickup for my nephew. Yesterday he showed me a notebook with a neat little ledger: names, which drawing, 10 rupees each, paid or pending. He draws cartoon versions of cricketers and apparently half his class wants one 🙂 Part of me is impressed. I run a business and his bookkeeping is better than some vendors I deal with. Part of me thinks the school won't see it that way. His parents laughed when I told them, which isn't exactly a plan. Do schools usually have a rule about this? Would you stop it, or just move it outside school?

1 comment

silver_piano_79821 Oct 2026
Most schools have some line about money changing hands on campus, written or unwritten. I'd check the student handbook before deciding anything. My son went through a card-trading phase at 12; the trading was tolerated, but once cash came into it the cards got confiscated.
- silver_drum_639921 Oct 2026
  Agree on the money part, but I wouldn't shut the drawing down. Before deciding, ask him where the money is going. If it's the canteen, that's one conversation. If he's saving up for something, he may be more willing to move the selling elsewhere himself.
- umber_pool_551122 Oct 2026
  Replying to @silver_drum_6399
  Asked him over breakfast. He's saving for a set of proper sketch pens and has 140 so far. We agreed: no money at school, drawings can be gifts there, and he takes orders from the cousins over Diwali. He has already negotiated a 'festival rate' of 15 🙂