A mother in China thought she had found the perfect way to teach her teenage son that earning money was much harder than studying. Instead, her plan took an unexpected turn when he discovered that he genuinely enjoyed running a food business—and generated approximately $1,400 in sales in only 10 days. What began as a lesson about hardship became a surprising story about ambition, parenting, education, and the many different ways young people discover their strengths.
Sometimes, parents come up with clever ways to teach their children important lessons. They hope a little experience in the real world will help teenagers appreciate the opportunities they already have.
But sometimes, those lessons produce exactly the opposite result.
That is what happened to a mother in China who wanted to convince her 17-year-old son that staying in school was important. Concerned about his declining grades and growing lack of interest in education, she decided to introduce him to the demanding world of street vending.
Her expectation was simple. After spending long hours preparing food, dealing with customers, and working late into the night, her son would understand how difficult it could be to earn a living without completing his education.
She believed he would quickly become exhausted and begin looking at school differently.
Instead, the teenager discovered something unexpected.
He enjoyed the work.
Not only did he enjoy it, but he also proved surprisingly capable of attracting customers and generating sales.
Within 10 days, his small food stall had reportedly brought in approximately 10,000 yuan, equivalent to around $1,400 at the time.
For a teenager who had been struggling to find motivation in the classroom, the experience was transformative.
Rather than convincing him to return to school, his early business success strengthened his desire to leave his studies behind and pursue entrepreneurship.
The mother, surnamed Deng, suddenly found herself facing a dilemma she had never anticipated.
She wanted her son to understand the value of education, but she had also helped him discover a passion for business.
Her parenting strategy had backfired in a way that was both amusing and thought-provoking.
The story, which attracted widespread attention in August and September 2024, quickly became more than a humorous family anecdote. It sparked a larger conversation about academic achievement, practical skills, teenage independence, and whether success must always follow a traditional educational path.
A Teenager Who Had Lost Interest in School
Before the unexpected food-stall success, Shen was facing a problem familiar to many families.
At 17, he was having difficulty maintaining his academic performance.
He had entered a vocational school to study culinary skills after completing junior secondary education. In theory, this education could have provided a useful foundation for a future career in the food industry.
However, Shen was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with school.
His grades were slipping, and his motivation appeared to be fading.
When his mother questioned him about his performance, he revealed that he no longer believed studying was worthwhile.
He wanted to stop attending school and work instead.
For Deng, this was concerning.
Like many parents, she understood that the decisions teenagers make during these years can influence their future opportunities.
She also knew that enthusiasm alone does not always prepare someone for the realities of adult life.
A young person might imagine that working is easier than studying because employment provides immediate financial rewards. But earning money often involves responsibilities that remain invisible until someone experiences them personally.
There are long hours, demanding customers, unpredictable sales, operating expenses, and the pressure of earning enough to support oneself.
Deng understood these challenges particularly well because she had firsthand experience with them.
For more than three years, she had operated a street-food business selling fried chicken in Jiaxing, a city in Zhejiang province.
Her work involved far more than standing behind a stall and accepting payments.
Like other small food vendors, she had to prepare ingredients, maintain food quality, transport supplies, organize equipment, serve customers, and deal with the uncertainty that comes with running a small business.
Some days could be busy and rewarding.
Others could be slow or physically exhausting.
She knew that even a simple-looking food stall required considerable effort.
So when her teenage son announced that he wanted to stop studying, she began thinking about how to show him what working life was really like.
Rather than responding only with lectures or arguments, she chose a practical approach.
She would let him experience the challenges for himself.
In her mind, this would be an opportunity for him to discover that earning money was not nearly as easy as he imagined.
Her plan seemed reasonable.
After all, she already had the knowledge and experience to introduce him to the business.
What she did not anticipate was that the experience would confirm his desire to work instead of discouraging it.
A Mother's Unusual Plan to Teach Her Son About Hard Work
Deng's idea was based on a belief shared by many parents: personal experience can sometimes teach lessons that words cannot.
Teenagers may hear their parents talk about financial pressure, long working hours, or difficult responsibilities without fully understanding what those experiences feel like.
It is one thing to hear that earning a living requires sacrifice.
It is another to wake up early, prepare products, transport equipment, serve customers, and return home after midnight.
Deng believed that direct exposure to these challenges would give Shen a new appreciation for education.
She wanted him to see that studying, although demanding, could provide opportunities and flexibility in the future.
Her plan was not simply to punish him for poor grades.
It was an attempt to broaden his understanding of adult responsibilities.
If Shen believed that working was preferable to attending school, she would allow him to experience what work actually involved.
She knew the food business well enough to make the experiment practical.
According to Chinese media reports, the family helped Shen acquire a secondhand electric three-wheeled vehicle and prepare a mobile snack stall. Some English-language accounts described the setup as a modified electric bicycle.
The vehicle allowed him to transport food and equipment to his selling location.
It was a modest operation rather than a permanent restaurant.
But it was enough to give him a taste of independent business activity.
The idea was straightforward: Shen would prepare food, travel to a selling location, interact with customers, and experience the physical and financial demands of running a stall.
Deng expected him to encounter the frustrations that come with this kind of work.
Perhaps he would become tired of the long hours.
Perhaps slow business would discourage him.
Perhaps difficult customers or repetitive responsibilities would make the classroom seem more appealing.
However, there was one possibility she had not fully considered.
What if he enjoyed the work?
What if the responsibilities that seemed exhausting to her made him feel motivated?
What if the teenager who appeared disengaged at school was capable of showing remarkable determination when working toward a goal he cared about?
Those questions would soon become central to the family's story.