First work out whether they are quitting the business or quitting a bad afternoon, because those need opposite responses. If it is the afternoon, they need a break and a next step small enough to feel possible. If it is the business, let them close it on purpose, tell the customers, and count what they made, because a deliberate ending teaches more than a slow fade.
Find out which one it is before you respond, because the two need opposite things from you.
Quitting a bad afternoon sounds like frustration attached to a specific event. A customer was rude, the weather was awful, a batch came out wrong, a friend did not show up to help. What they need is a break, food, and a next step small enough to feel possible. Not a speech about perseverance. One phone call, one yard, one hour, and then they can decide.
Quitting the business sounds different. It is flat rather than upset. They stop bringing it up. Asked directly, they say they do not really want to do this anymore, and the reason is about the work itself rather than one bad day.
If that is what you are hearing, let them close it, but have them close it on purpose. Tell the customers. Finish what was promised. Count what they made and what they learned. A business that ends deliberately teaches more than one that fades out while everyone pretends it is still happening.
The thing to protect is their appetite for trying again. A kid who closes one business cleanly will start another. A kid who is made to grind out something they have quit internally learns that having an idea is a trap.
Five questions about age, budget, time, and what they actually like doing. Four matched ideas at the end, free, with no email needed to see them.
Take the quizA kid who cuts, edges, and cleans up usually starts between $25 and $40. Professionals charge about $30 to $85 a visit, and a young founder starting below that is being paid less for being unproven, not for being young.
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What should a kid charge to mow a lawn?Ten people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.
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How does a kid find their first customer?Less than almost anyone expects, and for a lot of these ideas the honest answer is nothing until somebody has already said yes to a price.
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How much money does a kid need to start a business?Earlier than most people think, as long as the business matches what the kid can actually handle. The limit is rarely age itself.
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What age can a kid start a business?A program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.