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Original poster

DS15 Used a Green Apple to Roll His Foot After Hike – Am I Overreacting?

524 replies

OneShyCritic · 13/10/2025 14:07

So, we just got back from a weekend in the Lake District with our two lads (15 and 11) and another family. We all did Scafell Pike together, and it was brilliant... but when we got back to the hotel, my DS15 said his feet were aching after the hike. To try and ease the pain, he decided to put a green apple on the floor and roll his bare foot back and forth over it. It’s something he does at home with a tennis ball after football training, and it really helps with muscle soreness.

Now, here’s the thing: we didn’t have a tennis ball, so he used an apple instead. I get that he was trying to relieve the pain, but when I saw him doing it, I was a bit miffed. The apple obviously had to go straight in the bin after – it ended up all soft and stinky! I just feel like if he thought he was going to need something like that, he should’ve remembered to bring a tennis ball.

Am I being unreasonable to be a bit frustrated about it, or am I overreacting? I know he was trying to help himself, but I just can’t help thinking it was a bit... well, a waste to use an apple!

OP posts:
MelliC · 14/10/2025 19:45

You know in 3 short years he has a choice of whether to see you ever again or not? Maybe you might want to think about relaxing the reins a bit. It can't be nice to have every tiny action judged.

There are kids of that age getting pregnant, taking drugs, bullying others, being a menace to society, swearing at the parents. He sounds very nice for 15. He spent a perfectly nice weekend with you and his brother in the countryside doing healthy stuff, and then he wasted an apple. Hey no one's perfect!

User1839474 · 14/10/2025 19:46

OneShyCritic · 13/10/2025 14:25

I also worry it’s not a great example for my younger son (11) to see him just waste food like that.

It wasn’t wasted it was used to relieve pain in his feet! Would you have begrudged the same amount of money being “wasted” on some ibuprofen?

Myotherusernamesafunnyone · 14/10/2025 19:46

Yes, you are overreacting

extrasushiplease · 14/10/2025 19:50

I'd like to congratulate you on having no real problems in life.

RoyalNight · 14/10/2025 19:54

you shouldn’t waste apples…..they don’t grow on trees!

VickyEadieofThigh · 14/10/2025 19:57

OneShyCritic · 13/10/2025 14:25

Thanks for the replies! Just to clarify, my frustration isn’t about my son trying to relieve his foot pain – it’s that the apple got squashed and wasted. It was perfectly good fruit that could’ve been eaten later, and now it’s just gone. I know he was trying to help himself, but it just feels wasteful, especially when we could’ve used it for a snack on the hike.

You're being daft. It was just an APPLE and he used it to ease pain.

Have you seriously got nothing else to occupy your thoughts?

dizzydizzydizzy · 14/10/2025 19:59

YANBU. I often use foot rollers too and an apple just would not have worked. Plus I had good wastage.

A tin of beans if a deodorant can would been far more sensible.

Fgfgfg · 14/10/2025 20:01

Harleyband · 13/10/2025 17:57

Surely this can't be real. A 15 yo DS goes on a family hike, willingly, and all DM can say is that he's a bad example to his 11 yo brother for using an apple as foot massager? OP count your blessings and back slowly away before you alienate your children forever. Personally, if I were DS I'd be running for the hills if this was real.

Running for the hills? But then he might need another apple.

AmyDudley · 14/10/2025 20:04

Are you worried he'll be expelled from Scafell Pike, become ashamed of his nakedness and introduce pain and suffering into the world ?

Bethany83 · 14/10/2025 20:11

Yes you are being unreasonable. I don't mean the sound bitter, genuinely, but how lovely it must be if this is your only concern right now in life x

LouiseK93 · 14/10/2025 20:12

Tell him apples dont just grow on trees! Oh wait...

LeafyLou · 14/10/2025 20:13

I know I wouldn’t like this.

PlayingDevilsAdvocateisinteresting · 14/10/2025 20:18

CoralOP · 13/10/2025 14:33

But the apple was worth 30p, he was stopping further pain to himself, that's worth 30p.

If something stopped a child of mine from being in pain, and especially something so quick and easy to access, I wouldn't have cared if it cost £10 rather than 30 or 40 pence, and I am a pensioner who's income is my state pension, and a monthly PIP payment - £10 also wipes out my Christmas Bonus!

I am finding it hard to understand how any reasonable mother could get even slightly frustrated by their child using their initiative, and a very cheap item of foodstuffs, to help alleviate any pain they may be in, or anticipating - unless of course they are poverty stricken and don't even know where their next meal is coming from. Holidaying in the Lake District does not sound like money is too much of an issue with the OP's family.

@OneShyCritic, using the apple was NOT a waste of anything.

I also agree with a PP that your 15 year old DS, taught your 11* *year old DS, a valuable and useful lesson in how to use his brain to easily solve a problem, one that could have ruined the rest of the holiday for your DS, and for anyone else there that actually puts your DS's comfort above that of an apple...

CoralOP · 14/10/2025 20:21

PlayingDevilsAdvocateisinteresting · 14/10/2025 20:18

If something stopped a child of mine from being in pain, and especially something so quick and easy to access, I wouldn't have cared if it cost £10 rather than 30 or 40 pence, and I am a pensioner who's income is my state pension, and a monthly PIP payment - £10 also wipes out my Christmas Bonus!

I am finding it hard to understand how any reasonable mother could get even slightly frustrated by their child using their initiative, and a very cheap item of foodstuffs, to help alleviate any pain they may be in, or anticipating - unless of course they are poverty stricken and don't even know where their next meal is coming from. Holidaying in the Lake District does not sound like money is too much of an issue with the OP's family.

@OneShyCritic, using the apple was NOT a waste of anything.

I also agree with a PP that your 15 year old DS, taught your 11* *year old DS, a valuable and useful lesson in how to use his brain to easily solve a problem, one that could have ruined the rest of the holiday for your DS, and for anyone else there that actually puts your DS's comfort above that of an apple...

Show quote history

Completely agree, I would expect she won't see her children much as soon as they turn adults..

Liesontoast · 14/10/2025 20:33

What I would give to have this level of worry unless this is satire?

Newsenmum · 14/10/2025 20:34

He should’ve asked as its a horrible waste, but I wouldnt lose sleep over it.

CrispieCake · 14/10/2025 20:35

YABU, unless you were prepared to go out yourself and get him a tennis ball or painkillers to get rid of his pain.

He's a child, you're adults, it's your job to sort his pain out. In this case, he saved you a job.

Youdontseehow · 14/10/2025 20:38

bloody hell this thread takes the biscuit!!! Hope you don’t get too upset about the potential misuse of said biscuit 🍪 @OneShyCritic

Poetnojo · 14/10/2025 20:41

Jesus OP unclench.
You really think that's setting a bad example to your younger ds? Really?

tara66 · 14/10/2025 20:41

OneShyCritic · 13/10/2025 14:25

I also worry it’s not a great example for my younger son (11) to see him just waste food like that.

Or do you have a green apple fetish OP?

noodlebugz · 14/10/2025 20:41

YABU - did you want to faff about buying him a tennis ball, looking for painkillers or sourcing some kind of foot support?
Did you want him complaining all day the next day if it was a hike day or risk being sent home from school in pain or being injured in PE if it was a school day?
It’s only an apple - dock it from his pocket money if you must but don’t let it ruin what sounds like a lovely trip.

Mere1 · 14/10/2025 20:43

OneShyCritic · 13/10/2025 14:07

So, we just got back from a weekend in the Lake District with our two lads (15 and 11) and another family. We all did Scafell Pike together, and it was brilliant... but when we got back to the hotel, my DS15 said his feet were aching after the hike. To try and ease the pain, he decided to put a green apple on the floor and roll his bare foot back and forth over it. It’s something he does at home with a tennis ball after football training, and it really helps with muscle soreness.

Now, here’s the thing: we didn’t have a tennis ball, so he used an apple instead. I get that he was trying to relieve the pain, but when I saw him doing it, I was a bit miffed. The apple obviously had to go straight in the bin after – it ended up all soft and stinky! I just feel like if he thought he was going to need something like that, he should’ve remembered to bring a tennis ball.

Am I being unreasonable to be a bit frustrated about it, or am I overreacting? I know he was trying to help himself, but I just can’t help thinking it was a bit... well, a waste to use an apple!

You are being petty. Let it go. An apple or your son in pain?

SemiRetiredLoveGoddeess · 14/10/2025 20:46

You would have been miffed if he had eaten the pple after rolling his feet on it.

As part of some teenage jape or dare.

🦶🍏🫵

WalkDontWalk · 14/10/2025 20:50

I want to be very clear about this, so that there's no room for misunderstanding, no possibility of crossed wires. There's nothing contextual about what I'm going to say, neither is there any latitude for interpretation, equivocation or the introduction of nuance. It's very simple. It's very clear. It brooks no argument and it invites no discussion.

Ahem...

Yes. You're being unreasonable.

....that's it. Carry on.

MCF86 · 14/10/2025 20:50

OPs last post was on the first page, before I read any further I'm going to guess it didn't take long for someone to say this has to be complete horseshit and an attempt at starting a funny thread.