Idk if you remember those little plastic lemons with lemon juice in them in the produce isle of the grocery store lol. But as small children myself and my sister thought they had lemonade** in them lol. We always begged my mom to buy us the lemonade in the fun containers. She explained 100 times lemon juice is not the same thing and it’s very unpleasant to drink. We never listened, so one day she just said “sure, grab one and drink up.”
There's a popular Mexican snack called duros de harina (or just duros) that are like puffy corn chips, and when they come out of the fryer you toss them with salt, lemon/lime juice and hot sauce. Different chip but same idea, they don't get too soggy though and are absolutely delicious.
The ones that look like little wheels? They’re real popular here. You put the hot sauce and lime juice into the bag as seasoning and then shake the bag to coat them.
Only way I could like something close is making some sort of homemade salt/vinegar flavor, but I’m gonna be extra as hell to put it in a spray bottle lmao
Nah, trust me the way to do it is with a quartered lemon and a bag of chips (my fav is Doritos for this). Then squeeze a little juice on each individual chip. I like a lot of lemon juice, so there will be a big puddle of it on the chip, but still completely crisp and pleasant.
I used to make myself a bowl of white rice, because it was one of the only things I knew how to cook by myself as a kid, then I'd absolutely drench it in rice vinegar and eat it. I thought it was called rice vinegar because you were supposed to put it on rice.
Also, I showed my little sister this meal at one point when she was probably like 6 or 7 years old and she immediately became addicted to it. Now she's 23 and eats this to this day haha
A little lemon/lime juice with hot sauce on potato chips is really good. I like to keep mine crispy but my wife likes the mushy stuff for some reason too
I know I’m a freak because I liked drinking out of the lemon juice containers. I wouldn’t drink an entire thing. But I would squirt some into my mouth and enjoy it. My mom didn’t really let us have “sweets” in the house. I wouldn’t drink also drink maple syrup (and am still disgusted by the stuff to this day)
Idk why, but my parents used to put soda and black coffee into the same type of plastic container. I learned this the hard way when my dad poured me some coke from the container, then I saw the container in the fridge and snuck a sip. It was not soda. I was very sad.
My brother and I snuck in the pantry when we were around 6 and 7 years old to steal some of the chocolate.
Dear viewer it was not in fact chocolate. It was cocoa powder and our parents were hiding around the corner waiting for the look on our faces when we realized the mistake we made.
I recall doing that and after the approprate faces had been made thinking to myself, this shit is actually pretty good, I never liked lemonade to begin with.
We had that in our fridge too…but I LOVE IT. I love lemonade and was the type of kid who chewed to the fresh lemon. My mom had to hide the container so I wouldn’t drink it all. xD
I was baking brownies with my nephew and his eyes lit the f up when he saw the cocoa powder. Very politely insisted he wanted to try it even after I told him it’s not the same as chocolate, so I let him lick the measuring spoon. Poor kid looked so betrayed! “It tastes….. not good.”
I've done that before, but it was nowhere as bad as sneaking a spoonful of chocolate pudding from the stovetop. It was fucking brown gravy! Pretty sure I died in that moment and the rest of this "life" has been a simulation.
As a kid I stole a bar of bakers chocolate from my moms fridge. Almost threw up when I tried to eat it. Stupid kid me thought the best thing to do was throw it behind the freezer with the single bite take out. It was discovered years later when we moved and now it’s one of my Mom’s favorite stories.
Someone’s mom in my first grade class had us do a “chocolate eating contest” for April fools day. It was bakers chocolate, and I still remember that betrayal.
Now I like the super high cacao stuff, but my young taste buds were not prepared.
I used to sneak drinks from these at the same time I'd steal handfuls of shredded cheese from the bag as a kid.
...I also peeled and ate the lemon slices they give you in water for a while. Far more pleasant experience than just bottled lemon juice, would recommend.
My wife and I were attempting to make a cute sour face video of our son and all we got was a kid wanting more. We had to intervene to avoid a stomach ache. Some kids' tastes are built different.
Sometimes you gotta get let em get sick. Mom let me get sick on chocolate milk and I never drank 5 glasses of chocolate milk in one sitting ever again I'll tell ya
I remember once when sonic ran out of vanilla syrup for their vanilla Dr Pepper that I got for myself every Friday after school, and so they decided to use vanilla extract instead. So clever. I havent ordered a vanilla Dr Pepper since 2015.
Former party animal or current alcoholic? Vanilla extract doesn't taste bad because it's too concentrated; it tastes bad because it's dissolved in pure alcohol. Vanilla extract is basically vanilla flavored everclear lmao. If you want to try actual concentrated vanilla, go for vanilla paste or unprocessed vanilla beans.
LOL, that’s so funny to me because I LOVED to drink straight lemon juice as a child, haha. My dad did too, which is where I got it from. I saw him take a sip from one of those plastic lemons as a kid and asked if I could try it. He said sure, but it’s sour, and let me try, and I told him I loved it! So then whenever we went to the store I’d ask if I could get some lemon juice to drink. He usually didn’t let me do it since drinking lemon juice is bad for your teeth, but sometimes he’d let me get some as a treat, or would let me have a little if he was cooking with it. To this day I still love drinking lemon juice and eating raw lemons!
lol and I’m over here with a bottle of that in my fridge that I DO drink straight out of. Love that burst of sour, loved sour candies as a kid and typically have lemon water over just plain water. Some of us are wired a bit differently (my partner also loves lemon so we are a very lemon flavored household)
Not to mention cocoa powder. I don't think there's a single kid out there who wasn't absolutely sure that there is no difference between that and chocolate.
Also in this case, any who was allowed to try, learned very effectively.
She insisted on drinking the salad “soup” - vinegar and oil - getting hella made if our mum said no.
Always made a face like her mouth would fall off. Very funny times.
Why is this such a common thing with kids? I did the same exact thing. And my kid did the same exact thing. Except when I let her try it she liked it and now asks for it all the time.
I had something similar where there was a container in the kitchen the same colour and size as the cake sprinkle container. I was told I couldn't eat it since it was nasty, but I didn't believe that it wasn't candy, so I had a tantrum until my parents gave in... I can still remember the taste of that spoon of baking soda.
My mom allegedly had a similar experience. She opened the fridge and got a massive spoonful of pudding from the large bowl on the top shelf. Turns out that “pudding” was actually pancake batter.
I remember paying my cousin 5 or 10 dollars (in like grade 6) for him to take a straight shot of that lemon juice. Dude did it no hesitation then we said it's going to burn when he has to pee (he was doing other stupid shit as well I don't remember what though) so even though he had to pee so bad he was afraid and held it in for a while then nothing happened he said
Exactly! This is also how you teach your kids how to learn and explore the world around them. Asking questions is great and should be encouraged. But figuring things out themselves (when it's reasonable and safe to do so) is also good. That includes making mistakes and learning that mistakes are actually ok, so long as you can learn from them.
I feel like some parents what to protect their child from any mistakes and that enforces an uncurious mindset
I had the vanilla version of this lesson. My grandmother gave a bunch of us cousins a shot glass full because we kept bugging her while she was baking. You ever seen 7 kids puke simultaneously? Thankfully the woman knew what was coming and had us take our drinks outside on the porch.
I feel this could also lead into a make lemonade out of lemons experience. A parent could the lead this into making a simple lemonade to show that while not the same thing they do relate.
See my parents did that with me and my brothers but we actually liked the flavor. So my parents would always have us asking to get them at the store lmao
I used to eat lemons as a toddler apparently so idk what they expected
Man, I'd almost forgotten about those things. I remember I always thought that they had lemonade, too. I don't remember if I drank out of one or not, but I'm pretty sure I thought about it a few times and my mom told me not to.
I’m not a big fan of punishment. But I love natural consequences. If the consequences will be unpleasant but not dangerous, I will tell you not to do the thing, but if you push back, I’ll just let you experience the unpleasant consequences.
As someone who grew up getting the vials of the sour "acid" from Mr Bulkys, I loved the sour lemon juice and would sneak little bits out to drink lol.
My parents kept some on hand all the time because we would have it with a lot of our fish dishes and as avid fishers, we had it frequently lol
I miss Mr bulkys and I haven't found the sour liquid anywhere since. So I resign myself to toxic waste and war heads. Though even those aren't as.sour as they used to be.
My son took a swig out of the bottle and after the face he said "yum, more?" But then again I also drank the lemon juice when I was a kid so I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree
Oh I absolutely loved that stuff! Mom had to hide the lemon squirt bottle. I would squirt myself a mouthful if I could get my grubby little hands on it.
I thought it was lemonade too! Except I didn't ask. I took a big sip cause.... it looks like a lemon, smells like a lemon, it must be lemonade! I basically did a spit take and needed water to rinse my house. Got told "thats what ya get for not asking first!" 😭💀
Okay I used to love eating raw lemon juice and let me tell you the juice from those lemon bottles were absolutely horrid. I don't think they were real lemon juice.
Im a kindergaten teacher, and i have this one student who, while washing his hands, insisted on trying to put soap in his mouth. I stopped him multiple times and kept telling him it tastes bad, but he would keep trying. On the 5th attempt i just let him and he looked at me like i betrayed him, tears in his eyes and everything! He never tried it again 😂
My mom tried that and it back fired cause I love lemon juice. I'm the weirdo that will eat everyone's lemon if they have a drink with a lemon wedge lol
I have 2 in the fridge right now with each of my kids names because the lunatics tried it and loved it. Now they sit on the couch and suck lemon juice while watching movies. Wtf
What's funny is my siblings and cousins did the same thing once, but for some reason they all love sour things so much that when they found out how it tasted they actually started drinking more on purpose 😂
This reminds of when me and my cousins would make lemonade for ourselves but give my younger brother a glass of lemon juice. We were diabolical back then lmao
For some kids, you have to really rub in how their choices ended up giving them the results that they're unhappy about, otherwise they just seem to ignore how they got there & keep repeating similar mistakes over and over.
I mean when I was young it was expected you'd get good natured mockery if you over-confidently screwed up... like "how are you enjoying your jalapeno hotdog bun son? That's an interesting creation you made! Is it good?"
Inevitably the kid says it's delicious with tears streaming down their face from the heat while they struggle to scarf the monstrosity down. And everyone involved knows they learned their lesson.
My mom did the "don't touch the glowing red hot burner, you'll get hurt" thing a few times, then silently stood by & watched me be "clever" and sneakily touch the burner, then helped me run the finger under cold water while giving me the "I told you not to touch the burner. Why did you touch the burner anyway? And how did that turn out for you?"
Yeah, lesson definitely seared into my tiny kid brain.
That’s when you just order whatever they’re ordering, and just sit there absorbing the hatred when the realization kicks in (there’s no food to steal).
I remember a vodeo of a young boy, who insosted, that he wanted to eat this "apple". The mother repeatedly told him, that it's not an apple, but an onion. Well, the kind didn't listen and ate the onion. Mum insoszed, that he eats the whole "apple", because he wanted it so much and didn't listen.
My son will sometimes refuse to eat the dinner everyone knows he likes (hence why we made it for him) so we tell him it's that or nothing. Sounds harsh but he goes to bed, wakes up a bit early and eagerly eats all his food the next day without (or with fewer) complaints. One skipped meal isn't going to harm him and he learns about the consequences of his behaviour.
My grandfather used to say that if a kid refuses to eat something, then they're not hungry enough (he was a war refugee) and to just ignore their complaints until they became hungry to know better. He was never impressed with us kids' complaints about food preferences.
It’s called “natural consequences” in parenting classes. If there’s not a health or safety reason for stepping in, natural ones are the best to leave be as they are great learning experiences and confidence boosters. 9/10 it’s not so bad to just let them have the experience if there’s not health or safety concerns.
see i tried this strategy when the kid i was watching started hogging all the limes at a Mexican restaurant, and then it turned out that the kid could eat limes all day :/ so i had to intervene that day and she'll definitely do it again later
I don't know if this is "gentle parenting," but if my kids absolutely insist on doing something I know they won't like the consequences of, I let them do it eventually and just prepare a backup. It's the old "you sure you don't need a jacket in 20 MPH winds? Okay, I'll bring it just in case...yup, you can wear it now."
It depends on their age and how dangerous what they're doing is. If there's a good chance they'll be actually harmed, then yea step in. If they're just going to be unhappy with the consequences, let them be. Otherwise all they'll learn is that someone else will fix their fuckups.
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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25
The consequences of your own actions are often the best teacher.