cartoons Archives - Mother 2 Mother Blog

Is your child an entrepreneur? Do they have a lemonade stand? If you live in Portland, OR they could be shut down. This 7-year old little girl was shut down by a Health Inspector. They stated that she needed a restaurant license to operate, lol. What is happening to this country? We strive to teach our children morals, values, and a sense of self-worth only to have idiots like this steal their joy.

Here’s the story. This adorable little girl saw an episode on Nick Jr. of Olivia the pig operating a lemonade stand. She decided that she would like to have a lemonade stand as well to earn a little extra money. Now with the economy the way it is somebody needs work, and if a 7 year old is the one lucky enough to be able to bring in a little income so be it. Her mother decided to help make her dream come true. They made a sign and packed the car with bottled water, Kool Aid, cups, and ice, and secured a spot at the local art fair.

Much to her surprise, she was shut down by a health inspector. The violation, she failed to obtain a $120 temporary restaurant license. Not much surprises me these days, but when I read the article I was in disbelief. Who in the hell would pay $120 for a license so a child can operate a lemonade stand. The health department was holding a 7 year old to the same standards as a commerical business.

The inspector informed the mother that she could face a $500 fine if she continued to operate, so she packed up everything and tried to explain to her daughter that the people were just doing their job. Now I’m all for sanitary conditions, but the mother and daughter were using bottled water, packs of Kool Aid, a scoop for the ice and hand sanitizer. How harmful can that be?

Other vendors who were nearby decided to come to the little girl’s aid and take measures against such a ridiculous law. They spread the word using every avenue and venue available to protest the decision. The Health Department eventually apologized to the mother and daughter stating they made a mistake. They stated that the law should not apply to lemonade stands, and the inspectors should use professional knowledge to decide when a business should be shut down. What has happened to people’s hearts in this country?

I hope this little girl wasn’t discouraged by the incident and will try her hand again at being an entrepreneur. I love the cartoon Olivia on Nick Jr. She’s adventurous and her messages are to teach our young ones to try new things. Isn’t that what we want them to do. How do we prepare them for the real world if we don’t provide opportunities to experience and try new things. Most children are tied to the computer and the TV for hours, but this little girl wanted to get out and sell lemonade to make a few dollars. If anything she should have been seen as an example.

The funniest thing about the incident is the health inspector stated his children sell lemonade. I wonder if he spent a $120 on a permit for them.

Maybe Nick Jr. will create an episode on Olivia about idiot health inspectors. Their lesson have a heart, you can’t learn everything from a book.

Back In the Day

What has happened to the TV commericals? Many of them today make absolutely no sense. I grow up with fun commericals in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. I’m telling my age I know, but the commericals today have lost their appeal. Campbell Soup, Fritos, Dippity Do and cereal commericals were fun and entertaining back in the day. Saturday mornings cartoons were a blast. I’ve thought back to my childhood over the past few weeks. I remembered the smell of a great breakfast cooking and the TV blaring with commericals that would make us laugh and sing and the best cartoons.

I found a few of my favorite commericals on Youtube. One of my favorites was the Frito Bandito commerical. I loved this little guy. He sang a song about Fritos, which is one of my favorite snacks to this day. Check him out:

Ayiee, yie-yie-yieeee,
I am dee Frito Bandito.
I love Frito’s Corn Chips,
I love dem I do.
I love Frito’s Corn Chips,
I take dem from you.

The Frito Bandito was banned in the 70’s. The Latino population saw him as sterotype. I respect all cultures and what they perceive to be sterotypes, but as a child I wasn’t aware of sterotypes. To me he was just funny. I loved him.

Another favorite was the Chiquita Banana commericals. My favorite banana commerical was made before my time in 1944. I discovered the commerical years ago, and it remains a favorite. I just love to watch the banana dance. Miss Chiquita started as a dancing banana, but she’s now featured as the lady shown to the left. I think if we had more commericals like these, we could probably get our kids to eat healthier. My 2 year old grandson loves this video:

Another favorite was the Trix Rabbit. The Trix Rabbit would try to con children into giving him a bowl of Trix cereal. The children in the commerical would respond, “Silly Rabbit Trix Are For Kids”. We would run around all day, repeating this slogan. It drove my mother crazy.

I could go on and on about the 60, 70 and 80’s. Not only did they have great commericals, the Saturday morning cartoons were the bomb. We watched The Archies singing Sugar Sugar, Josie and the Pussycats, and the Jackson 5. Oh, how I loved Saturday mornings. My mother always cooked a big breakfast. She made biscuits, pancakes or waffles from scratch. Our eggs were retrieved from my grandparents hen house, so they were always fresh and yummy. Grandma and Granddaddy also had blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries. Mom would spend hours making jams and storing it so we could pile it on our pancakes, biscuits, and waffles on the week-ends. Every Saturday my father would say to my mother, “Look at those kids with all that jam”. She ignored him, and we would just laugh and make our piles of jam higher. He would wait for us to add more jam, somehow he know that we would add more as a result of what he said, and than he would go to somebody’s plate and scoop off enough jam to cover his own pancakes or biscuits.

Another great memory was the hours we spent gathering walnuts and later cracking them with a brick so Mom could put them in our brownies You had to be creative back in the day, I didn’t discover nutcrackers until much later in life.

Thanks for allowing me to share a few childhood memories with you. We would love to hear how you spent your Saturdays while growing up.