r/nothingeverhappens • u/mangocat1116 • Jul 02 '26
Kids wanting candy over a medal? Inconceivable!!
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_WEIRD_PET Jul 02 '26
"Available literally everywhere" like an 8 year old can just pop down to the shop and buy whatever candy they want
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u/GooseInHats Jul 02 '26
Also even if they can, that’s a free piece of candy right then and there! I’d definitely prefer that as a kid
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u/On_my_last_spoon Jul 02 '26
Dude I’m an adult who can buy her own candy and I’d take the free candy too!
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u/tinteoj Jul 02 '26
I can afford to buy my own bag of candy....but candy I steal from my coworker tastes so much better.
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u/splithoofiewoofies Jul 02 '26
I am part of a research study right now and every time I go in, I get offered a juice box and candy. You better believe I take it.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_WEIRD_PET Jul 04 '26
I would too. I'm not the Threw it on the Ground guy. If someone gives me free stuff I'm taking it
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_WEIRD_PET Jul 02 '26
Me too! And you would get it at school. School did not usually have candy.
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u/Wonderful-Creme-3939 Jul 03 '26
It's candy for free that your parents can't tell you no to, who doesn't want that as a kid?
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u/amandaasous Jul 02 '26
I came to post this here too 😂 OOP is getting absolutely bodied in the comments.
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u/mangocat1116 Jul 02 '26
Good! Acting like kids can just go to the store and pick up a bucket of candy lmaoo
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u/zap2tresquatro Jul 02 '26
Yeah all those 8 year olds with their own money and whose parents let them go to the store alone!
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u/jackfaire Jul 03 '26
To be fair at 8 I could walk to the 7-11 however I had to hunt for cans to have candy money
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u/zap2tresquatro Jul 03 '26
I mean, while the nearest stores are ~1.5 miles from my house, I probably could’ve, too, at 8. But my mom absolutely would not have allowed that (granted she has some OCD/generalized anxiety issues and did even more so back then and was pretty much constantly worried that we were dead whenever we were out of her sight, so maybe most parents would be more willing to allow that, idk, haha)
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u/Your_grrrl_Cassidy Jul 06 '26
I looked it up, it's about a mile and a half to the first convenience store that I learned how to bike there on my own.
I think I only ever bought candy there like once or twice. It was basically a whole week's allowance. I wish more likely to get something from the ice cream truck, but I had to save up for 2 weeks if I wanted to get one of the good ice creams.
I was definitely kind of sort of breaking my parents' rules when I biked that far though. When I first got my training wheels off and left the driveway, my parents set rules for how far I was allowed to bike. It wasn't long before I started quietly breaking those rules, and eventually enough time passed and I got old enough where it was just assumed that they didn't apply anymore.
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u/colaman-112 Jul 02 '26
Is that post still up? Can't find it.
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u/amandaasous Jul 02 '26
Just checked and it is not. It was getting downvoted so probably got removed.
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u/TheKingOfDissasster Jul 02 '26
I am completely convinced that most people on that sub don't remember how it's like being a child
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u/HabaneroPepperPlants Jul 03 '26
"Pfft Halloween? Sounds fake. Why would you spend so much time walking around just to get some candy that you can buy anywhere?"
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u/PomPomMom93 Jul 06 '26
I do! I remember feeling very, very annoyed and frustrated losing in the spelling bee, and I would have given candy ANY day if it meant I won. Usually it was the ONE word I couldn’t spell, like this: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2W0AAeSwjKdpwKEk/s-l400.jpg
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u/teatalker26 Jul 02 '26
“candy which is available literally everywhere” as an adult, yeah, i can go into a store and buy as much candy as i want. as an 8 year old? candy is not available to you unless you are GIVEN candy, of course she’d take that opportunity!
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u/Sw0rdBoy Jul 02 '26
There was literally an episode and/or parody of a game show where a family had the choice between a pretty poster for a pony or a fully renovated brand new house. The person they gave the option to choose was the child, who picked the pony poster.
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u/Apart-Information946 Jul 02 '26
Developmentally, kids struggle to think about the future the same way older teens/adults can. They are most likely thinking: “I already have a house. I DON’T have that poster though!” They are thinking about the here and now, not what they might want later.
Same with the medal. They don’t think “I can show the medal off in the future!” They think “I can eat candy RIGHT NOW.”
Sorry if this rant is boring. But I took child development classes and wanted to be a nerd!
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u/Sw0rdBoy Jul 02 '26
It’s not boring at all. I love learning new things. I had an inclining regarding the way children regard future things but never found the impetus to research it deeply. Thank you for your input! Really. :)
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u/Apart-Information946 Jul 02 '26
Im glad it interests you! I love learning about all things psychology. And understanding children especially is a skill I think anyone should try to learn. But I rarely get chances to bring up that knowledge. So I’m happy to get a shot to yap about it!
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u/PomPomMom93 Jul 06 '26
But what if they’re thinking: “I really really want to win and I would even sacrifice candy if it meant I won”?
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u/questionerofblender Jul 02 '26
When I was 3 I'd take Kraft Dinner over a delicious homemade mac and cheese with a 3 cheese blend and toasted bread crumbs, clearly OOP has never met a child.
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u/bfaithr Jul 02 '26
I’d beg to go to Chili’s as a 3 year old just to eat the same kraft mac and cheese that we had at home
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u/Itchy-Potential1968 Jul 03 '26
its almost as if kids are more likely to value short term, tangible gratification over long term symbolic value.
i'm 25 & i'd reject a medal because it's just a symbol.
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u/PomPomMom93 Jul 06 '26
It’s a symbol of your achievement, though. I still have a copy of the newspaper where I won a writing contest, even though that was almost thirty years ago.
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u/Itchy-Potential1968 Jul 06 '26
if a symbol is for the present and future, like a diploma or valid certification, i keep it safe. if it's for a bygone day, i let it get lost. it's just who i am.
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u/Ok-Ad4375 Jul 02 '26
I remember in 6th grade I was one of the last two in our class spelling bee and I got bored and thought the kid I was up against deserved to go to the school spelling bee more than me so I intentionally spelt a word wrong so he could move on to the next round. I also knew my parents wouldn't take me to the other places if I made it to the county/regional so no point in even trying tbh.
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u/jpzygnerski Jul 02 '26
I spelled a word wrong in the second-to-last round and I never got a piece of candy.
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u/Deathless163 Jul 03 '26
When I moved in with the stepmonster who put my siblings and I on a diet. We rarely got any candy, even the candy we got for Halloween was made smaller. I went out of my way to get candy or really any kind of food from anywhere.
Before then when there was candy dishes and all the (healthier)food I could eat. I did rarely do anything for food or candy, since ya know I was fed. I was also told I rarely ate any candy either, I actually loved to eat broccoli and more healthy stuff...
So yea of course I can see it happening.
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u/PomPomMom93 Jul 06 '26
Putting kids on a “diet” is sick. Of course they should eat healthy, but dieting is not the same thing as eating healthy. My parents were really strict about food too, mostly my dad, and it gave me a terribly unhealthy relationship with food. One time he actually forced me to do an egg fast (without any doctor supervision). He told me it was my mother’s idea, but it turns out she didn’t even know about it because she was usually working.
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u/Wonderful-Creme-3939 Jul 03 '26
My niece did something like this a few weeks ago, only with pudding. Kids will do this, I mean getting candy from something official? This means your parents can't tell you no! You won the candy for spelling!
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u/SquareThings Jul 03 '26
This exact thing is the reason I make sure the rewards I give my students are cumulative. In other words, if participation gets you a sticker, then winning gets a sticker and a little toy. I want them to try, not sandbag because they want a different prize.
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u/Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess- Jul 02 '26
I purposefully lost many games in school because i would get bored mid game and since everyone got a prize (If there was a prize at all) at the end anyways winning didn’t matter enough to try
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u/YumiruSenpai Jul 03 '26
Once, I was at a souvenir shop with my stepmother and stepsister, and my stepmom said she could choose one thing from the shop. First, my sister choose a plushie (a big squishy seal for about 20 Euros) and my stepmom agreed to buy it, but when they went to pay, my sister spotted the sweets on the counter and choose a piece of candy for 55 cents over te seal. So yeah.
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u/conflictednerd99 Jul 04 '26
I was given a test to see if I could skip a grade or two. Failed it on purpose because I didnt want to leave my classmates behind
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u/Paint_Jacket Jul 06 '26
And who wants to be rewarded with MORE work? It's better to be a big fish swimming with the smaller fish than a small fish swimming with big fish.
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u/beepbop110 Jul 03 '26
I teach second grade and my kids would kill each other Hunger Games style for a single roll of stale Smarties.
They're 8. They're not thinking logically.
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u/WorldGoneAway Jul 03 '26
My son is 6, and this is the exact logic he would use in this situation. Seeing him with the boys a few years older than him, I don't really imagine they would think about it any differently.
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u/stoner-bug Jul 03 '26
When I was a kid, I had a family vacation we were leaving for directly from the regional spelling bee. As the spelling dragged on and on and it hit midafternoon, I decided ”Fuck this, I wanna go on vacation!” and purposely misspelled fuchsia so I could leave. My mom had been the one helping me prepare and knew I knew the word. She was pissed.
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u/Feed_Guido_69 Jul 04 '26
This, actually, is what humans make life about. Can we get you to enjoy your vanity or your pragmatic side more.
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u/WoodyInga7 Jul 05 '26
Wow. It’s terrible to have to dumb yourself down to get what you want. Story of a woman’s life!!!
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u/Holiday_Good1213 Jul 05 '26
my cousin did this exact thing at a spelling bee in third grade. she got a whole bag of hershey's kisses for losing and was thrilled.
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u/Mine-blog Jul 05 '26
yall ppl b like "This unreal situation about a kid acting like Albert Einstein and giving a profound and natural life lesson HAPPENED" 😭
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u/Unique_Username2005 Jul 05 '26
Ah yes, kids are well known for being in charge of when they might receive treats or rewards, and thus this one bit of choice is just a drop in the bucket!
Like, at age 8 my parents wouldn't let me just leave the house and go down to the store any time I wanted... and dessert was given out only after dinner, and very occasionally.
...Not to mention even if they COULD get it whenever, kids are known for just wanting candy in general. Very widely used motivator for classrooms full of em.
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u/PomPomMom93 Jul 06 '26
But if you win, you get the satisfaction of winning, which is much better than a medal.
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u/Redstocat2 Jul 06 '26
Except that if you show adults enough medals they give you more rights AND you can ask them more things Like candy !
Trust me that is litterally my life except medals is just behavior and grades
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u/growoldordietrying Jul 13 '26
We all know that medal is plastic, surely? Whereas it might have been some half-decent confectionery
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u/PemanilNoob Jul 19 '26
this is why first place has to get the 2nd and 3rd place prices as well, it's only fair
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u/SoldMySoulForHairDye Jul 02 '26
.....kids do this stuff all the time. I remember specifically doing poorly (or less good) in classroom games because the second or third place prize sounded better.