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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:
NewHat · 13/10/2025 15:08

I was behind a man at the tip yesterday who had a boot full of apples which he threw into green waste. At least five hundred apples. I’ve got six lying on my lawn right now and I only just did the garden yesterday.

Harrysmummy246 · 13/10/2025 15:08

If this is the worst your teenager can come up with for you to overreact about, count your lucky stars. At least he's active and showing some common sense.

PS why does it matter that it was green and why did you capitalise each word in your thread title?

Donttellempike · 13/10/2025 15:09

LoveWine123 · 13/10/2025 14:41

I might have a different perspective to some other posters, but I would also have a problem with food waste in this way. Having grown up in a place where food was not always available, I would find it difficult to watch fresh fruit be wasted like this. I try and teach my kids to respect and appreciate the fact they have food and clothes available. Yes in the grand scheme of things, it's just an apple (costing what? 20p, 30p?), however it's still food and it shows they are lucky enough to have never gone without food before. I would want my kids to show more appreciation. I also have a thing about kids throwing clothes on the floor...it's disrespectful and it shows they don't value their possessions because the bank of mum and dad will just buy them more.

I wouldn't use this example to berate him but I would definitely have a discussion about it. You're not wrong to be thinking what you are thinking.

The OP is completely wrong. As are you.

Are you both escapees from a Mike Leigh play?

BunnyLake · 13/10/2025 15:09

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 over reacting. Green apples aren’t that expensive are they? Now if it had been a Pink Lady.

Sheesh

runningonberocca · 13/10/2025 15:10

I can’t believe you can get upset about a single apple. Upset enough to write a long post. Your poor son! I think it was clever improvisation on his part. Do you ever get sore feet after hiking? Did you bring a tennis ball?
Honestly if something so trivial bothered me I’d be too embarrassed to admit it.

Overpeover · 13/10/2025 15:10

Have a word with yourself.

BunnyLake · 13/10/2025 15:10

Donttellempike · 13/10/2025 15:09

The OP is completely wrong. As are you.

Are you both escapees from a Mike Leigh play?

Show quote history

😁

LilacReader · 13/10/2025 15:11

ARichtGoodDram · 13/10/2025 14:57

We definitely have different views on food waste in that case.

Well yes, if you'd rather your child remained in pain, potentially impacting the rest of your holiday, rather than using an apple to relieve that pain in a clever, quick thinking way then we certainly do.

Do you think she'd forgive him if he paid for the apple??!!! 😏

MyDeftDuck · 13/10/2025 15:11

Give the boy a break ffs, He was in pain, he knew what he needed to do, he used his initiative and improvised! No different to a medic on an aeroplane re-inflating a collapsed lung with a penknife and a wire coat hanger!

AutumnDayswhen · 13/10/2025 15:12

LoveWine123 · 13/10/2025 14:55

Why would a discussion about it harm their relationship? Isn't this exactly the kind of opportunity parents can use to teach their kids? Why would a discussion be harmful?

Show quote history

A discussion about what exactly? A person using a logical object for pain relief?
Of course we talk about food shortages, or course we talk about valuing possessions. But I wouldn't shame them for finding a reasonable solution to ease their pain, no

AutumnDayswhen · 13/10/2025 15:12

Donttellempike · 13/10/2025 15:09

The OP is completely wrong. As are you.

Are you both escapees from a Mike Leigh play?

Show quote history
Grin
Elephantangel1991 · 13/10/2025 15:13

Round here people are leaving apples outside houses for people to take for free etc, bringing them to playgroups, loads of trees full of them. Really the wasteful thing would be if you bought apples instead of picking them at this time of year as a lot are being wasted. And you could also have asked him to wash and peel it and eat it if you were very bothered.

Petitchat · 13/10/2025 15:13

Is this a joke?
Can't be serious, can it?

BunnyLake · 13/10/2025 15:14

SugarPlumpFairyCakes · 13/10/2025 14:58

I’d have thrown the apple into the hedgerow for little animals to feast on it.

Exactly. There’s no reason why the apple had to be wasted.

What did you do with the apple?

runningonberocca · 13/10/2025 15:15

And in any case - the apple wasn’t wasted - it was used to alleviate pain. Mindlessly chomping it when not hungry is more of a waste. If he had put manuka honey on a wound dressing would he be wasting the honey? ( and manuka is a lot more pricy than a Granny Smith!)

BunnyLake · 13/10/2025 15:15

This is what is known as sweating the small stuff.

FatGirlSin · 13/10/2025 15:15

Shouldbeworkingnotreadingtalk · 13/10/2025 14:16

Have just spat my lunch out. Funniest and possibly best comment ever read on MN. Well apart from Penis Beaker. But that’s a classic.

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Really?! 🤔😆

BloominNora · 13/10/2025 15:15

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.

Think of it like this:

It wasn't wasted. He used the apple to nourish his body, just in an alternative way to eating it.

maudelovesharold · 13/10/2025 15:16

Think of it like this - if you had a thumping headache and your dh refused to buy you a packet of paracetamol for 50p, in favour of an apple he might eat later, you’d probably be rethinking your relationship.

SapphireSeptember · 13/10/2025 15:16

CatAsstrophe · 13/10/2025 14:44

If the apple became squashed (earlier you said soft and stinky) due to pressure from a foot, it must've been past its best in the first place.

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I was thinking that. Apples are a fairly sturdy fruit. They might get bruised if you drop them but that's about it.

Bumdrops · 13/10/2025 15:19

You earn the prize for the most boring / non event related thread !!
🍏

Henbags · 13/10/2025 15:20

Is this a joke? It’s an apple. I’ll repeat that: it’s an apple.

Poodlelove · 13/10/2025 15:20

At least he didn't put it back in the fruit bowl like some teenagers would.

nomas · 13/10/2025 15:21

BedlingtonFloof · 13/10/2025 15:07

I do too, but actually, I don't think it was wasted. Sure, he didn't eat it, but it served a useful function for him in another way.

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I agree, if it alleviated pain then it wasn't wasted.

Look at how many cucumbers are sacrificed for puffy eyes!

But I would still have eaten a bruised apple, I would have just washed and peeled it.

Bruisername · 13/10/2025 15:21

CatchTheWind1920 · 13/10/2025 14:57

You sound like my German mil whose mum was alive during WWII and now has major food waste issues. It's an apple. You'll get over it 😅

My German mil would have fished it out of the bin, given it a wash and popped it in her bag to eat during lunch whilst judging us for having a meal at midday