A handwritten napkin showing daycare revenue ($2.1M), costs (salary, food, rent, landscaping), profit ($365,600), profit margin (17.4%), and valuation ($1,095,000), written for a six-year-old

How to Teach Kids How a Business Actually Makes Money

My six-year-old asked me how his sister’s daycare makes money. So we sketched out revenue, costs, profit, and even a back-of-napkin valuation. Here’s the whole conversation — and the four numbers any parent can teach a kid in 15 minutes.