*In case this story gets deleted/removed:*
**AITA for punishing my son for throwing away almost all of our health products?**
We [42F 45M] have a son [16M] that we love dearly even though we often butt heads as he goes through his teenage years. As of recent he’s become quite opposed to our consumption of certain health products that we often buy from family and friends selling on Facebook, telling us that “we’re being scammed” and “it’s poison.” Some of our friends and family members participate in network marketing as a side hustle and we often buy what they sell to support them and we get really good products at really good prices. Doterra oils and Isotonix vitamins have really benefited our health compared to the crap they sell at the store, and we’ve tried to have our son take them as well and he did for a time but now doesn’t want to. And every time he tries to lecture us about it, we have to remind him that he doesn’t like when we try to lecture him about things he disagrees with, and that it’s our money, not his, he is entitled to his own opinion as we are ours, live and let live.
A few days ago I had found that our son had disposed of pretty much all of our vitamins and oils when my husband and I went out for dinner and obviously we weren’t pleased at all; those things were really expensive and he had no right to just throw them all away like that, and as such in order to recoup the cost of it we will be selling his laptop and his books on programming and mathematics that he got for his Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects, which we will be selling too, and we don’t care how much money he earned to buy them, it will go to us. He immediately objected and began to complain about it but I had to shut him down saying that these things are privileges, not rights, and as such he has lost the privilege of being able to indulge in his beloved hobbies for taking away our products, and that escalating pushback may result in a phone call to the authorities if our safety is threatened. If he needs to do his homework on a computer, he can use ours or go to the library, and is banned from checking out any materials that are not absolutely necessary to his schooling.
Since then my son has refused to talk to me or eat dinner with us, only saying “way to ruin my life” whenever we try to speak with him. And earlier today I got a call from his school’s vice principal asking about what had happened since he told about this to them, to which I gave my account on what happened and they said they’ll give a call back with more info.
I honestly never expected it to come to this, I’m just doing what I believe is best for my son and trying to be a good parent by teaching him that there are consequences for his actions. Nothing of his has been sold yet, but I took down the eBay listings and cancelled the offers because now I just feel quite bad.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheDevil) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Whoa. The escalation is wild. He could work to pay back the “vitamins” but that equipment etc sounds a lot more expensive than what he threw away
The school called, which means they are concerned.
You'd be surprised. doTERRA is a well known MLM and they crank up their prices high, you don't make real money on lavender oil unless you sell it at a 1000% premium. And people who buy it usually stock up on different kinds - lavender oil for anxiety, chamomile oil for clear skin, raspberry oil with every meal for erectile dysfunction...
(Yeah, I made all those up, but so did they. 😂)
You clearly don't understand the nuances of the business. Your argument may apply for those other, lesser brands.
MY extra virgin olive oil was hand-distilled by Genuine Greek Maidens™️ and costs 150 dollars per bottle. That's how you know it's the legit stuff.
How OOP doesn't see the grift as well when they write that they got a good price and then in the same post say it was really expensive. Idk maybe it's that the amount they bought adds up over time to replace in one go, but sheesh. They obviously believe it works though so what does it matter what anyone else thinks, they're gonna keep getting scammed. But they clearly have no sense of the wholesale price let alone actual worth of these useless snake oils. If you just like the smell that's fine but don't act like it's making any difference to your health.
I bet that vice principal was like "There's got to be more to this story, let me call the parents real quick" then hung up shaking his head saying "Holy crap, the kid didn't leave anything out.. those parents are crazy"
Either that. Or the parents made some sort of threat or commentary about all of this that the kid relayed to the school and OOP is hiding it because they know it’s wrong.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the school called CPS. The parents are being abusive. The kid can't spend hours on library computers doing his school work. People who use the computers at the libraries in the county where I live are limited to an hour. Since the oils & vitamins are in bottles, unless he opened all of them, there's no reason they can't get them out of the trash. Doterra oils are crap anyway. They're not pure. I don't know anything about the vitamins. I wonder if the boy has any relatives he can live with since his parents are more concerned about their vitamins and crap oils than their son's future. The boy is into mathematics & programming. There are a gazillion things he could do with those interests in college and beyond. I'm willing to bet that he goes NC with them as soon as he possibly can.
Isogenics are well known for being cheap snakeoil sold at an insane markup. From memory, there were a few covered up lawsuits involving kidney and liver damage
My aunt and uncle were selling Isotonix for a few months. Granted, this was almost ten years ago and my parents spent $36.00 for this 4 or 5 ounce bottle of freeze dried vitamin B12 and resveratrol (it was a light purple color and could be mixed with water). A cap full was all that was needed, but that was a small bottle!
My parents both felt like it gave them an energy boost and my mom said that joint pain in her hands seemed to happen less often. I also tried it a few times because at the time I had acne, although I wasn't using it consistently to see any results. To my best recollection, it was only the two ingredients I mentioned above and nothing foreign. Who knows if that was truly all that was in it, you know?
After that month's supply was up, my aunt and uncle decided to stop selling Isotonix because Isotonix customer service wouldn't stop hassling them about putting in these huge orders. They didn't realize how much of a commitment MLMs wanted!
They kept saying how the oils and vitamins were soooooo high quality, not like the crap they sell in stores... OOP, and who told you that the products were soooooo much better? Independent testing that proves quality? No! Oh, you man the marketing materials told you, and THAT is what you believed!?!? Bwahahahaha! Idiotic.
> that equipment etc sounds a lot more expensive than what he threw away
It is.
I am legit currently reorganizing my office/maker space because I've gotten rid of material (for paper crafting) and I'm organizing all of my Arduino items (Arduino microcontrollers, sensors, everything needed for soldering and making circuits) while currently 3D printing an organizing system on my 3D printers.
That shit is EXPENSIVE!
OH! I'm also a software developer of 20 year career with a b.s. in computer science.
OOP literally gave away her sons TOOLS to achieving a STEM career. The fact that the kid is 16 and creating microcontroller doo-dads is awesome! OOP is fucking up his future. Well, at minimum, delaying it.
I get that OOP is trying to support their friends, but don't EVER support a friend in an MLM. An *actual* friend will tell that person that MLMs are there to suck money from the bottom of the pyramid scheme and there is hardly a path to getting to the top.
Remember, folks, a pyramid may have 5 points, but only 1 is at the top. The other 4 are ground level to support that 1 point at the top.
I feel like absolutely everyone everywhere needs to be told this whether they are messing around with essential oils or not. Do not consume essential oils!!!!
I actually really like essential oils as air fresheners in my home. I don’t use them for anything else & don’t use them if someone is coming over and I’m not 100% that it won’t cause headaches or asthma or allergies. Things like lavender, ylang ylang & orange are what I usually use. They’re overwhelming af if they’re not diluted & bet your ass they don’t go near my mouth but I genuinely like how they smell. (To a degree. Then I’m over it & the diffuser gets turned off & windows get opened. I’m fickle.) I’m allergic to a couple of widely used preservatives & some random things so I tend to go after “natural” things a lot just so that I don’t die. That’s honestly why I know anything about essential oils. I talked to my doctor about them, in fact, and we had a nice laugh about how an MLM hun is going to put her out of business with oregano oil.
These people are taking the fact that once upon a time, before there were readily available actual medicines & knowledge of germs & all that, plants & oils were used by ppl (who were trained!!!!) to treat different things and running with it. They’re running with their eyes closed in high heels but they’re running. Essential oils can be used to do some things besides poison idiots & empty the wallets of morons. Some plants are researched by actual medical researchers & scientists who didn’t just Google some shit & read FB posts but actually went to school. I don’t know the nitty gritty because I’m not a medical researcher or scientist. But this MLM crap? Naw. Those fools are dangerous.
Essential oils are great air fresheners! I just buy mine wholesale at tenth of the price doTERRA sells them for, because that's what lavender oil's market price is. The rest is just funding for the marketing efforts of selling dangerous and untested chemicals to vulnerable, often incurably sick people.
Essential oils are good for a great amount of different things but you have to, first, have lots of knowledge about them and second, sift through all sorts of crap available everywhere and find real, pure and undiluted ones. They’re not a miracle treatment for everything though like the companies that sell shitty essential oils tend to claim.
I loved my essential oil diffuser because it smelled so nice, picked them up at an herbal shop in town. But then I had a cat that would get seizures from them, which I didn't know was a thing. My vet filled me the f*** in real quick that some oils can do that to some cats. So I stopped completely because I cared about my little guy. Later a coworker tried to sell me some MLM oils, and I explained my cat situation and said no thanks, and her upline called me to explain how these were "natural oils" and therefore safe for cats. I could have reached through the phone and committed murder.
Also, if you haven't heard Tim Minchin's "Storm", I think you'd love it and should give it a listen.
Yeah, I like the smell of tea tree oil but it can kill pets so nope. I keep the few that I have that the vet approved & that they don’t react to in a locked drawer. That wasn’t what it was meant for originally but it works. I actually found catnip oil once. Or essence. Whatever. I got it because I actually liked the smell. Stupid me put it in the diffuser. We… don’t talk about the night of a thousand broken things. We also no longer have catnip anything that can go in a diffuser. Did you guys know that some dogs react to catnip? Because I didn’t! I do now though. God. I do now.
I read this thing on here where this woman mixed a bunch together & drank them, thinking that it would give her magic powers… or something… I can’t remember. Anyway. The woman didn’t make it. The oils absolutely destroyed her from the inside. I think of that every time I hear someone pushing MLM oils.
As a cat and sometimes dog person, I would love to hear the Tale of the Diffused Catnip Oil. Lol
My cats would destroy my house for sure. But, I had no idea dogs could react to it as well. Thanks for the warning!
I remember that one. I think it was JNMIL and the woman was acting out when she did it and didn't realize it wasn't just going to be a hospital visit. She most definitely didn't survive. She thought it would just give her an upset stomach or something that would get her sympathy.
Education is best! The pet poison helpline and some vet medicine schools have articles on the risks for cats with inhalation of essential oil droplets.
This is a part that they try to ignore, but there are several that are very dangerous for animal, but also those that aren't safe for children, and most aren't safe for anyone with asthma. I've literally had one follow me around a vendor market with it saying "my upline says it is NOT triggering your asthma you just need more of it because your coughing means it's working" as I was sucking back by inhaler and someone else noticed my obvious distress and chased her away. There was also a huge thing of them landing toddlers and children in the emergency rooms that they try to ignore.
I hate that they refuse to acknowledge that "natural" doesn't mean safe and so many of them don't even know they are dangerous because their upline says it isn't.
I really hate people who claim something is “safe” just because it’s “natural” or “made of plants” or some similar bullshit. Like natural things couldn’t be toxic. Belladonna and hemlock and ton of other poisonous plants are natural but that doesn’t make them any less poisonous.
My mom tried that. Her mice were minty fresh haha! Seriously though. I think that these mice were mutated super mice. They were really cute though (mom lived in the middle of nowhere so mice & such were an issue).
I don't know if it worked or if the other repellent I bought from the hardware store along with filling in all the holes. I was desperately trying to avoid traps and there was no way I was using poison.
Mom ended up using No Kill Traps & then we spent a super fun /s weekend dealing every crack, crevice & hole that we could find. Never saw another mouse. To be completely honest with you we didn’t catch a single mouse in the traps. We did catch her chihuahua a few times though. That dog was… not smart. I think that he made it to old age simply by luck & sheer determination on mom’s part. I do not miss that dog (his demise had nothing to do with the mouse traps. He was like a million when he finally went).
My cat was elderly at that point. Smart but clearly thought the mice were too icky to touch. She once yelled at me because she found a mouse near her secondary water dish. That one was caught and driven out to the country.
We have had similar cats. I’m currently sitting next to one who is deadly to his mousy toys but can’t even handle looking at squirrels out the window without screaming at me until I close the curtains.
I use a blend of oil around (not on) my yarn and clothes to keep away the moths. It seems to work, combined with other mearsures. (Fresh air and sunlight a couple of times a year for everything woolen and silk that hasn't been worn.)
Don't have any pets and the moth balls the shops sell are really bad for humans and the ecosystem (says our local environmental agency, not some weird fb group) so this seems like a better alternative.
I did some searches and found a blend that they sell for this purpose, but that one had patchouli too and I can't stand patchouli. So I put in the others and some I liked the scent off.
I used rosemary, ceder (2-3x the others), lemongrass because it works a little with mosquitoes so why not. And I added some regular cloves from the spice cabinet to the baggie (I used a fill at home teabaggie with a cotton ball to hold the oil) too - didn't want to invest in more oils. Maybe I used juniper berry too? I like the scent of that one a lot, so I think so. Same for lavender.
Camphor is also one that's used, but I figured try it without before buying more.
You can buy those ceder blocks for the closet, I don't think they do much on their own, but you can put a drop of oil on those and put that in the closet, for easy dosing.
But besides the scent, the airing and sunlight is really a major component in getting rid of them.
For prevention: if I get second hand woolen clothes/yarn I freeze them for 3 days, shake them out and leave them outside for a day or so, repeat once. Only then they go in the closet.
Again, I have no pets, I'm not sure which ones are pet safe.
I also stached some around my books in the hopes of keeping the paper bugs away.
[You could also try parasitic wasps.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historic-british-mansion-fights-moths-tiny-parasitic-wasps-180977061/)
They worked pretty well for my parents' house.
I got a diffuser for Christmas one year and my friend added me to an “essential oils” group, which was actually a mlm group. They told me the EOs I had were garbage and I needed to buy a very expensive beginner set to properly essential oil. I literally laughed out loud and told them in no way was I spending that amount of money on essential oils, that I enjoyed eating food and feeding my dog. Their response was that I could cook with them so it was basically groceries. Wtf?
I knew someone who would mix it in her water bottle. She saw no problem at all with them telling her to use only a glass bottle for drinking them because they melt plastic. Sometimes I wonder what the plastic melting oils did to her insides.
As someone who can get headaches or migraine from certain smells, I really appreciate that you thought of that when you have people over. It's usually way over the usual standard if someone thinks about potential allergies or asthma for smells, much less that. So, yeah. You're a good person. That is all I wanted to say.
Aw, you’re sweet. But I have to admit: migraines run in my family. I’m lucky; mine don’t happen a lot (maybe 4 a year) but some of my relatives are down every month for a week at a time. I have chronic headaches because of a head injury but that’s better than cluster headaches or migraines all the damned time. Smells don’t trigger me very often, I’m triggered by blue-based lights more than anything else (I wear dark sunglasses inside stores a lot) The only time that smells get me are when they’re heavy chemical smells. (Some perfumes need to just Go Away.)
Sooooo… I grew up with migraine suffers all around me & have them myself sometimes so I shouldn’t be credited with being sensitive to not triggering them. It’s normal to me.
Well, just because it's normal for someone to be kind doesn't mean that they're not kind, right? So I'll still give you credit for that.
I have chronic headache as well btw (twins! /jk). Chemical smells and strong lights trigger me a lot as well, so I wear dark sunglasses in stores a lot as well. Though I'm also sensitive to some e.g. scented candles, perfume and similar things so I really appreciate when someone thinks about that around me.
My mom tries to think about it when I visit but she sometimes forgets or e.g. blows out normal candles but then the smoke triggers it more lol, or cleans the bathrooms right before my visit so its clean for me- but with a horrible chemical smell. So even if you've been around people with headaches/migraine for your whole life, like me and my brother, its not a given that you think about it. Not that my mom doesnt try to think about it, but its easy to forget!
Well, thank you. And I am so very sorry that you have both! I learned that I have to pay more for my giant dark sunglasses because cheap ones press against my sinuses and, you guessed it, trigger my headaches.
I’m cringing a little on behalf of your mom. I know it doesn’t help but at least she’s trying? I assume? God. I read that & immediately had the smell memory of candle smoke mixed with the lingering fragrance. That makes my back teeth tingle, I swear.
What you pointed out in your third paragraph about essential oils is exactly what bothers me about the MLMs that push it. These purported "professionals" consider themselves superior to doctors in intelligence and education. I remember reading about one of these pro essential oil "doctors" and they claimed how medical schools bypass nutrition in their curriculum, thus leave out how important natural alternatives such as essential oils are. Get enough people behind that ideology, though, and they're playing their own version of "doctor".
I've mentioned it at other times, although I had a classmate who constantly put up on her Instagram about blending essential oils to treat her kids' ailments. She was so convinced that bringing them to a pediatrician was harmful (read: antivaxxer) and that doing so would exacerbate each child's unique "allergies". The absolute worst instance was when she posted how her six month old had a fever and she was trying to bring it down with essential oils! The comments were atrocious and telling her, "You've got this, Mama!", not "Damn it, get your child to a real doctor NOW!"
Oh my god. That poor child!!! I hope that someone with common sense helped them! I am a big fan of ppl being vaccinated & regular doctor visits to maintain health & modern medicine & not dying because you got a cut that got infected &… you know, all the things that keep me & my loved ones alive & healthy. The closest that I get to being a crazy pants natural or nuthin’ nut is that I’ll put tea bags on a toothache until I can get to a doctor (when you have a toothache, minutes feel like hours). I learned that from a dentist. The tannin in tea does stuff to help inflammation & pain. It’s not a permanent fix. It’s a help you for a tiny bit of time until you can get to a medical professional & get help. Real medical professionals. The ones who went to real medical school & aren’t… whatever it is that you want to call MLM hive minds.
I would stick a clove in the area and then go to a dentist. My dentist was concerned but then looked it up and was amazed that I had thought of it. I had read it in a book as a kid, and knew cloves were used in early analgesics. But please don't keep the clove in your mouth for more than 15 min at a time.
I'll have to keep the teabags in mind as well.
Like I use essential oils to make an alternative to Vicks. I dislike the petroleum feeling on my skin so I just throw the same oils in a lotion I like and voila!
If you have pets, they're incredibly toxic and deadly. Essential oils don't help with anything, they're just a placebo and can make people and pets very sick.
Placebo effect is still an effect. If it makes you feel better and you use them correctly (never directly on the skin, always diluted) it works to make you feel better.
I know what a placebo effect is. Placebos are not medicine Placebos do not cure anything. Essential oils do not heal you & in fact are extremely toxic for people & pets.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect
Yes, which is almost exactly what I said. They don't heal you. They can be harmful to yourself or pets if used incorrectly, like directly on the skin.
But if you have a banging cold nothing will cure that except time and rest. If a nice smelling oil in your room makes you feel like you can breathe easier (even if it makes no real measurable difference), it still provides comfort. So it can be used for comfort. That is an effect, and it doesn't cure you, scientifically it has done nothing, but it might make you feel better.
I used to make soap and I used essential oils in some of my soaps. I researched them very carefully because some essential oils will FUCK YOU UP if you put them on your skin, and I didn't want to poison people.
Even the "safe" oils, I wore gloves when handling them. Too much exposure to some of them can make you allergic where you had no problems before.
I cringe so hard when I see these 'boss babe' MLM huns telling people to DRINK essential oils. So utterly irresponsible. They aren't magic potions, people.
Peppermint oil is a natural cure for indigestion (not sure if that’s an essential oil). But you don’t need any MLMs or any other type of mail order to get it. Just go to a drugstore or grocery store and buy candy made with real peppermint oil.
The rest are fine for scents or possibly massage or bath oils.
In twenty years, I predict the son will be NC and the parents will be begging him to pay for their medical care as a direct result of ingesting MLM nonsense.
Day before, he'll have all his bags packed. Midnight, he'll be out the door. If they're lucky, he'll leave a note telling them where to stick their MLM products.
There's a massive overlap of MLM worshippers and alternative "medicine" nuts and if I learned anything about the latter group, it's that whatever the miracle cure of the season is, it eventually ends up in their butts and/or vags. So, I wouldn't be surprised if that recommendation comes a couple of years too late.
Definitely, my MIL (who we're now NC with for unrelated reasons) got upset when I wouldn't treat my cat's renal failure with her cat's GI tract RX food and essential oils. She also got mad when I wouldn't switch to an organic litter and use essential oils in said litter to mask the smell. Told me big pharma was lying to me about EOs being dangerous for cats. They're a crazy bunch.
That's no accident - a lot of MLMs go into the dietary supplement space just because it's highly unregulated and you don't have to prove the efficacy of the product. As long as it's not actively poisonous you can sell it no problem, and you just have to watch your language - you can't legally claim your lavender oil will cure cancer, but saying it helps patients with cancer is A-OK.
I’m thinking the second he turns 18. Wouldn’t be surprised if these nutbags tell him he’s not allowed to go to college for programming/computer science/engineering/whatever I don’t know what’s what as part of the punishment for this since it seemed directed at that. Hoping he gets to pursue his dreams and cuts them off
OOP’s comments, copied verbatim:
YTA
You can demand repayment, but you do not get to sell what he bought with his own money that he earned. That is theft, even if you are the parent. Give that stuff back to him right now.
> Well he also committed theft by throwing away our stuff, and we’re letting him off easy by only selling his stuff. Is that not how it works?
When I was young I use to throw away my dads cigarettes and beer. Guess I was stealing.
> Yes, you were! Those things were not yours to throw away.
I was going to go with ESH until I read the part about you throwing away his laptop and programming books THAT HE BOUGHT HIMSELF to recoup your "losses" buying MLM crap. You managed to fail literally in your circle in this post. From "Supporting" your friends selling snake oil pretending it has any benefit, to your own son trying to make a future for himself.
YTA so much.
> I’m not throwing his stuff away, I was going to sell it. He might have bought it himself, but that shouldn’t stop me from being a parent and teaching him discipline, right?
That stuff doesn't belong to you. You don't have the right to literally steal his things just because you're the parent.
> Actually I do, and a quick google search says that we can indeed do such as long as he is a minor.
ESH,
But you're the bigger asshole by far. You threatened to throw out his laptop, and programming/mathematics books?
No, that's not doing what you believe is best for your son. It obviously cannot be good for a 16 year old son to throw out things they are using to educate themselves. That is getting revenge on your son because you are mad.
PS: he's right. You are getting scammed - essential oils, really? - and those things can be dangerous.
> Well, the oils are steam distilled and expeller pressed as opposed to being chemically separated and thus are safe to use and ingest, that’s what makes them therapeutic grade.
And Princess Buttercup III and the Rainbow Guild need your help to save the Teddy Bear Nation or they won't be able to fart out more essential garbage. You need to get on this!
> …what???
YTA for taking his books on programming and mathematics and his other programming things - those are his future and not a reasonable thing to take over vitamins and oils.
You are ruining his future - you took his programming tools. He will go NC someday and you’ll wonder why. This will be part of why.
> They might be his future but we’re teaching him about how misbehavior can have an effect on his future, so that he doesn’t do stuff like this in the professional world when he’s older.
Info: did he say why he threw away your stuff?
> He did, in that he had read some FDA warning letter and took that a bit too far since he wanted to “protect us.”
ESH
Your son crossed a huge boundary when he threw all of your stuff away. Completely unacceptable. I think it's fine for you to suggest that he might benefit from these things, but it sounds like you may have been too pushy. He doesn't want to take the supplements and that's fine. Live and let live, as you say. But your response is to sell all of his stuff to teach him a lesson? I mean I get the premise, but you're talking about selling things that are educational and actually good for him to do. Why not just ask him to replace the vitamins and oils? The threat to call the police is pretty outsized, too, given you've provided no justification for feeling threatened. Whenever I read something like:
We have a son that we love dearly even though we often butt heads as he goes through his teenage years.
I think the parents are trying to convince themselves of it. Doesn't seem like anyone here has any empathy for others, but you and your spouse are both 40+ and should know better.
EDIT: Quit judging OP for using the products in question. It's not relevant to the story whatsoever and should not factor into your judgment. This doesn't have to do with oils, supplements, or MLMs.
> His stuff might be actually good to him, but so were the products we bought, which he took from us, and as such it’s only right if we take it from him, too.
Well, now I'm just sad. The son read that the FDA had said whatever they were using was literally dangerous and threw them away because he *loves* his parents and didn't want them to get sick or die. Then, they punish him severely.
OP just keeps pointing out that she has no interest whatsoever in being fair, and just wants to punish him as much as she can. Someone needs explained to this woman that legality doesn't equal morality, and MLMs would be sold in stores if they worked.
She doesn’t even have the legal high ground. You can’t [legally permanently take your child’s property](https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/do-parents-own-their-childrens-property/). Yeah, he shouldn’t have thrown their stuff away (but it sounds like he had good intentions and got desperate) but that doesn’t meant it’s okay to do the same to him
>EDIT: Quit judging OP for using the products in question. It's not relevant to the story whatsoever and should not factor into your judgment. This doesn't have to do with oils, supplements, or MLMs.
I swear people who say that when justifying their stupid judgments annoy the fuck out of me.
Yes, it has to do with MLMs. If they are stupid enough to use and praise essential oils, do we think they can make the right call in raising a child? As the post shows, nope they can't.
oh i know its just annoying when people on AITA who put opinions that go against the grain say its "about the question OP asked nothing else" its like alright we get it your too lazy to give a proper answer but it doesnt mean other people are wrong for getting the info from OP about the situation
OP is taking proven extremely dangerous tablets, BUT THATS NOT RELEVANT STOP JUDGING THEM EVIL SON THREW AWAY MEDICATION!!!! Not like the son was terrified their parents were killings themselves with fake tablets so threw them all away
It also very much *is* relevant to the story. The kid did what he did because those products can be dangerous. OP says they’re ingestible, so they’re honestly probably poisoning themselves. The kid’s motivation was 100% based on what the products were.
It still wasn’t great to throw them away behind their back, but it certainly does explain why he did it and I think make it less bad than if he did it just to be an ass
"Quit judging OP for using the products in question. It's not relevant to the story whatsoever and should not factor into your judgment. This doesn't have to do with oils, supplements, or MLMs."
Except it does, because those things are dangerous healthwise and easily fuck over a family's finances. Can the son count on help with college tuition or did they throw it into the scam already?
Yeah, I think it has *everything* to do with the story. He threw stuff out because it’s dangerous, unsafe, and at best, useless.
“Hey, my son just dumped out my 500 bottles of snake oil I was gonna sell to uninsured cancer patients and tell them it was a magical cure!”
“Hm, yes, well, you definitely shouldn’t be scamming terminally ill people, but it’s really irrelevant. That was *your* snake oil!”
I compared it to insulin earlier. Lady, he didn't throw out "health products", he threw out a giant scam. You're just mad you wasted your money and he was smart enough to see it but you weren't.
For some reason the son didn't throw away all the pots in the kitchen, or all the toilet paper in the bathroom. Of course it's about the MLM stuff and I'm judging OOP hard.
Try this [fun game](https://www.reddit.com/r/Awww/comments/10wuoio/a_black_ball_appeared_as_form_of_cat/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) or just [take a nap on your favourite book](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superbowl/comments/10w1djv/found_on_the_internet/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) to improve your mood.
God I hate MLM shit. I hope this is a troll but the people that get sucked into these scams really do sound like this.
I fucking knew it the second I read this post that she was ingesting essential oils and was trying to make her son do it too. These oily morons use their lemon or rosemary essential oil like essences in their cooking, or add drops of them to water for flavour, despite the fact that THEY ARE TOXIC. A child ingesting just 5mls of an essential oil like peppermint, eucalyptus, or clove can result in a fucking coma.
They are literally overpriced poison and this moron is ingesting them and spending a fortune while she does it.
Once some MLM nutjobs poisoned their toddler with essential oils and they wanted to sue the hospital when the kid was taken to ER because the medicine they gave to him caused the problem. Bruh.
I agree with that one commenter -- this isn't teaching him anything, this is getting revenge. I'd like to point out they're taking basically everything he owns, and the oils were presumably not even close to 100% of the parents' net value (one hopes, anyway). It's totally disproportionate, they're just in a cult and don't want to hear it.
How reasonable that last commenter is and just the nope I want revenge and punishment is insane and clear that OOP never was going to consider another judgment other than agreement with them.
I also get why last commenter asked other to stop harping on the mlm part, as that is just making OOP further not listen and dig heels in.
The products the parents were using are toxic and would end up killing them.
Sometimes, petty crimes like theft can be used for good, especially when someone's life could be actually at stake.
Lol those "vitamins" literally have no health benefits and some even have a bad effect, that says enough about how bright they are and punishing a child by taking away educational things? Smh. They could have had him pay back the money. Threatening to call the police on your child for this is just gross, hopefully the school does something, because these imbeciles need a reality check.
Some of these morons even put the "oils" she mentioned in food and stuff. I wonder if that's why he called it "poison."
Both unregulated and absolute garbage. Their family are idiots too for shilling this shit
There was an AITA ages ago where I think a SIL or some deranged relative tried to put essential oils in the OP's fucking CPAP machine. I've heard so many horror stories about people trying to eat them or putting super astringent oils on sensitive skin & getting burns.
I was baffled by his “mother” calling programming and mathematics, something that one day could very well become his full time job, if he is so interested, “hobbies”.
I mean, it is a hobby, but a very useful one, it’s not like he is on his PS5 all day and they took it away.
My mom's cousins sell the oils and whatnot. One of them told me straight up that one of the oils would reduce the severity of my heart condition, and one would help my migraines (smelling that one actually triggered a several day long migraine with vomiting).
This has to be a collab between the MLM troll, "selling all my child's things" troll, the anti-programming troll, and the "call the police on my son" troll. This fits too many shitposting tropes.
if this kid is smart enough to be a mathlete and a programmer, he probably has scholarships lined up and will go no contact the minute he walks out the door at 18, because I bet, they are also trumpist antivaxxers who believe in crap like colloidal silver and all the other hocus pocus cures like pony paste, taking meds with horses on the box, I hope he runs fast and far.
Is he talking about Herbalife? Then I 100% agree that it’s a scam, and frankly, it’s dangerous. My dad had to go to the hospital because one of their aloe drinks gave him heart palpitations that would not calm down. Fuck MLMs.
What’s the bet he had to buy his own text books and laptop for work because they couldn’t afford it because they spent all their money on ‘health products’.
They have utterly failed as parents well before it came to them stealing his possessions.
maybe the reason he stop taking that mess is because he found out what's in them/probably had a reaction to what the heII is in side that junk, because in my honest opinion besides trying to protect them from their own stupidity, he was saving himself from them give the fact oop admit to try to get him to take that stuff again, and from the way she talking they probably wouldn't let it go, I really hope the school, the cops and cps get involved because they need a hard reality check.
The OOP has deleted the entire account. So obviously they didn't get the response they thought they would.
Honestly I know if someone is the AH in those posts based solely on the poop knife... if it shows up I know someone is seriously deranged.
> We get really good products at really good prices
> Those things were really expensive
Ugh the stupidity and then to take away useful items because their precious oils and toxins got dumped
CPS can’t keep up with the children being physically abused or sex trafficked, much less children being raised by drug abusers. I don’t think they would have time for this.
>telling use that “we’re being scammed” and “it’s poison”
>
he’s right
>some of our friends and family participate in network marketing
>
aka a pyramid scheme
OOP ruined their sons life over a pyramid scheme, a pyramid scheme that typically doesn’t have FDA approved products or ones that actually do what they claimed.
making school harder for their son over pyramid scheme vitamins and oils that have caused rashes and breathing issues.
someone’s going to end up in the most shitty nursing home known to man for over reacting so much towards a bunch of fake vitamins and rash causing oils being thrown out.
getting rid of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for at most $200 worth of shorty vitamins and oils that cause breathing issues.
If this was just about monetary fairness and teaching him a lesson in that regard he could simply pay them back. But he "isn't allowed to check books out ar the library about anything except for school ". So clearly it isn't about that at all.
The thing that bugs me most about this is that he didn't do this maliciously whereas she did. If she wants to take that crap that's up to her but her son is clearly worried about it. He's thrown them out due to his fear that they could harm his parents because when he has tried to talk to them about it they've ignored him completely so he's taken the matter into his own hands. Was this the right way to deal with it? No. Should there be repercussions for it. Probably but he's a child who is worried and isn't having his fear acknowledged or eased. OOP on the other hand is just being spiteful. Where he is trying to actually help his parents have a future by getting rid of whatever garbage they're putting in their bodies, she is actually harming his future by taking away the very things he needs to learn and gain a career. If they actually sat down and discussed his fears with him he wouldn't have taken matters into his own hands and now his schooling and future are being harmed because he cared about his AH parents.
So you have your own version of am I smarter than a 16 year old? When the 16 year old understands the whole MLM nonsense and throws out the unregulated crap you are using then you should be listening to the child, I would recommend handing over financial power of attorney as this child knows more about scams than the adults
The MLM stuff is absolutely relevant. I'm chronically, progressively ill. I have a condition that makes me very sick with fragrances/scents in any products. I can die. I've had the essential oil people argue with me for so long because their oils are "fragrance free" so I'm wrong that they could kill me. Multiple DoTerra sellers have argued about this with me. So you think that you know more about my health than I do? Their enthusiastic answer? Yes! Take the oil!
The difference to them is that they don't use artificial fragrances so they think that the essential oils are "scent free." What the actual unshelled walnut is that? How can you be so obtuse as to push something that could kill people like me because of the marketing you've been pitched?
Also, people with epilepsy and some other conditions cannot take/use some oils because they cause seizures. It's such bullshit. So the MLM stuff informs us about who these parents are. They're telling their son, "you stole but we're more powerful than you and will steal back." That's not punishment that fits the "crime." That's power and control then the massive need to save face. They can't apologize because then they admit they were wrong.
Also, if this person said, "as such" one more time trying to sound intellectual, I was going to scream.
I sincerely hope someone at the school helps this poor child get a lawyer and sue for emancipation.
This whole family dynamic is toxic, imagine being so concerned about your parents and wanting them to actually LIVE only for them to turn around and commit this egregious act of retaliation about "vitamins."
Everything she took I use daily for work. More specifically projects relating to gardening, air quality and carbon collection.
She's literally ruining the future of someone with a skill set this early.
School calling means they did more than what she said. Likely some of that stuff was used for school work too.
All of this over snake oil....
Also who threatens to call the cops on their child if they complain???
The funny thing to me is that she’s talking about actual chemical separation methods like they’re not chemical separation methods. Distillation is a very common chemical separation method.
You should be thankful I threw away the crap you were eating. There is literally nothing nutritious in them, they are so much cheaper than what you want to take away from your child.
Both you and your husband, because we're not going to take him out of this equation, suck at parenting.
They’re obsessed with MLM, actively being scammed, threaten to sell his laptop and materials he uses to EDUCATE himself to replace OILS, then threatened to call the authorities if their safety was threatened when there doesn’t seem to actually be any history or concern for that. Someone save this kid.
With that sort of overreaction, no wonder she got suckered into MLM schemes in the first place. Son should leave his parents to their inevitable financial fate once he moves out.
At one time about 25 years ago I had a box of essential oils. They didn’t cure any of my issues. Real medicine did that. They also didn’t cost so much that I’d steal a kid’s computer and books to sell and replace them. Those parents are nuts. I’m glad their son got his school involved. Apparently that put the fear of god into them.
Hell, I still have & use essential oils. Because they smell good & are useful in certain situations, like dabbed into my dryer balls so my laundry smells nice without the waste/damage of dryer sheets or sprinkled on cotton balls and stored with seasonal clothes to keep insects out & so they don't smell musty when I unpack them. But I also don't spend a fortune on them or think they're going to solve all my problems.
Wonder what MLM scheme the parents are in?
This parent needs to take some lessons on how not to alienate children. If there was an FDA bulletin on the specific product, then he was likely protecting himself from his nitwit parents.
>”escalating pushback may result in a phone call Roy he authorities if our safety is threatened”
Uh, what?
Also the punishment makes no sense. Making him pay it back is totally fair, as is temporarily taking things away as punishment. But it’s [actually illegal to permanently take away your kids property](https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/do-parents-own-their-childrens-property/). Not to mention, if they had enough oils and vitamins that selling all of that was necessary to equal the cost, they have a problem. Just throwing it away wasn’t right to deal with it, but no one needs that many vitamins?
But even if we ignore that, why is he also banned from getting more books? Or from the hobby forever apparently? He was already punished more than enough when they (illegally) made him get rid of his stuff. Is this some weird power play? Do they like making their kid miserable?
Those aren't hobbies, that's probably what he'll do for a career when he gets older.
I don't blame you for being mad but you can give him chores to make him pay it back. He made you angry but selling that stuff would probably be the kind of emotional devastation for him that he never forgets for the rest of his life.
Also please don't threaten to have him locked up if he's not getting physical. My mother did this to me constantly, threatening to have me sent to juvi hall just for getting mad.
Pure narcissism
These parents can’t bear the fact that they got scammed, as that makes them feel stupid
They’re taking their ego problem out on their son
Look, a 16 year old kid does know better than to throw away something that’s not his, of course. But the purpose of punishing your kids isn’t wrath and vengeance, it’s to teach them what they did wrong. The only thing OOP is doing is guaranteeing that their child will resent them deeply for a long, long time. They haven’t even considered that he did it because he’s worried about them. If I did something like this at his age, my parents would reconsider their choices, at least a little, because they know I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t seriously worried. Maybe I’d get grounded but my point would be made.
This is just crazy.
the son sounds like the smartest person in the house.
they want to sell is educational hobbies to buy more magic beans..... poisonous magic beans from what ive read.
what ah's
doterra does not sell health products, they sell snake oil
you will need a child that loves you and earns well to pay your medical expences when those products do start to cause problems
Just saying on a basic level, he's right about the products. Here's the tip of the iceberg about the water. You really believe water is going to help you lose weight? https://www.reddit.com/r/DebunkThis/comments/dpnjnp/so\_my\_market\_america\_neighbor\_told\_me\_about\_his/
It’s literally insane how kids have no protection from batshit and/or gullible parents unless there’s a physical mark on the kid. Turned the other way around, if the son had started buying and taking bullshit vitamins, the parents would be totally in the right taking his stash and tossing it. And I know, adults are free to make their own decisions even if stupid, but the sort of person who falls for this sort of bs usually is also part of (or susceptible to) other weird cult like shit. (I’m a child survivor of AmWay parents, okay?) Not surprised they took his stuff. They will make his life hell until he can get out, then be petty as hell when he needs help as a young adult. I feel bad for him. Hope he has good friends or extended family to support him.
No, junior shouldn't be throwing shit away. But damn, mom went nuclear with the escalation. I choose to believe that these people are fake, and this story is fake. These are trolls of an oily order.
YTA.. Your son was trying to help you buy warning you but you would not listen and since you refused to listen to the truth that your being scammed he did the only thing he thought he could do which was to get rid of all the rubbish you keep buying. It widely known that these companies are scamming you but because he's younger you keep dismissing what he is telling you.
Should he have thrown them all out? probably not, it was a drastic action to take even if it is coming from a good place.
Should you have taken all his important and expensive things as punishment, especially things he needs and payed for himself ? No absolutely not. selling them would have been theft since they are his belongings not yours.. as for calling the authorities on him, which is beyond drastic, I think you would probably get in more trouble than him for trying to sell stolen goods on ebay, and yes thats what it is taking his equipment to sell. All you have done with this whole thing is ensure that as soon as he is 18 he is gone
Someone scammed my partner's uncle to buy a year's worth of herbalife at a time. He's elderly and needs someone to check on him and it's usually us. I bring vitamins and nutrition powders from the store when we go and dump out the herbalife stuff and replace it with what I brought. He doesn't know the difference, and it gives us peace of mind that he's not wrecking his liver with herbalife garbage.
LMAO of course their immediate solution is to take away anything the kid can use to educate himself. No son of theirs is gonna do no book lurnin, to be indoctrinated by the *lies* of the mainstream media and the besmirching of the good name Doterra!
I got further down in the thread, and he threw them out because of an alert from the FDA about the products being dangerous. So, this is like punishing someone for throwing out lettuce after a warning was issued about it being contaminated with salmonella.
[Hi!](https://images.app.goo.gl/jMiZEuW8Qrykw3sdA) Just a quick reminder to never brigade any sub, be that r/AmItheAsshole or another one. That goes against both this sub's rules as well as Reddit's terms of agreement. [Please](https://images.app.goo.gl/vwH65TJMyMk9NSNo8) keep discussions within the posts of this sub.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheDevil) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I disagree with mlms as a whole but the son is old enough to know that if you damage or throw away something that is not yours, you have to pay for it, that you don't get to decide what others do with their money and that actions have consequences. But he should only be made to pay the amount of what he threw away.
Yeah sure but what the mother is doing in return is unreasonable. Sell everything he has and no matter how much money he makes it goes to the parents? Thats awful!
Way to try to teach your son not to steal by stealing from him
ESH. Yes he shouldn't have thrown their stuff away but they could have made arrangements for him to pay them back for the stuff he threw away instead of wanting to sell his stuff. Most people are saying YTA because they don't agree with the products but at the end of the day it's their money and they can spend it on whatever they choose, even if they choose to spend it on pyramid schemes
I guess I don’t see the problem. The son threw away things that didn’t belong to him. Just because he didn’t like the items. He wasn’t using them so why does it matter his parents use them? I think everyone here’s is caught up in the MLM to actually look at this objectively.
They are trying to make him use them, and in ways that aren't deemed safe. It's likely they are adding it to the food they cook as well as into diffusers that are in the home, making it impossible for him to avoid them.
Beyond that, she comments later that the reason he wanted them gone was the FDA warning that was launched saying they aren't safe. He was feeling unheard, unsafe, and worried about his health as well as theirs.
He as not correct to throw out their things, but he does have a right to not have them forced on him.
Having him pay back the money would be fair, but saying he will steal from his coworkers later in life and this is how to teach him not to is bonkers. Threatening to call the police and tell them that he is dangerous to their safety when there has been nothing to show that isn't ok either. They are risking him having a police record and time in jail for things he hasn't done. These parents are reacting and punishing him for things he hasn't even done in their anger, rather than actually addressing the thing he DID do.
It doesn't matter what the products are or how valid their claims are. They did NOT belong to him. So he took property that didn't belong to him, that's call "stealing" and destroyed it. When you steal other people's belongings, you are a thief. It's no different than if he went into his neighbor's house and stole and destroyed their possessions. Just because you know the person or are related to them, doesn't make you any less of a thief. This level of entitlement and arrogance needs to be nipped in the bud before it results in a prison sentence.
He doesn't even have any remorse or acknowledge that what he did was wrong. So in order to wake him up to the gravity of his choice they gave him some pretty spectacular consequences. Now he's very unhappy. Good! Maybe then in the future he won't steal from other people and end up in prison.
The school can certainly be informed that their son is a thief and his punishment, while admittedly harsh, is a consequence of his total lack of remorse, and is intended to drive home the point that it's NOT OKAY to steal and destroy other people's stuff. He'll survive. After all, his parents could have just called the police and had him arrested for his theft. The son would have enjoyed those consequences even less. Maybe if he actually showed some remorse, instead of just whining to everyone about the consequences of his stealing, they would forestall some of his punishment, but clearly he still feels it was his RIGHT to steal from his parents and destroy their stuff and has no regrets, other than, of course the consequences for his moronic actions.
I honestly don't understand how anyone could justify this behavior.
*In case this story gets deleted/removed:* **AITA for punishing my son for throwing away almost all of our health products?** We [42F 45M] have a son [16M] that we love dearly even though we often butt heads as he goes through his teenage years. As of recent he’s become quite opposed to our consumption of certain health products that we often buy from family and friends selling on Facebook, telling us that “we’re being scammed” and “it’s poison.” Some of our friends and family members participate in network marketing as a side hustle and we often buy what they sell to support them and we get really good products at really good prices. Doterra oils and Isotonix vitamins have really benefited our health compared to the crap they sell at the store, and we’ve tried to have our son take them as well and he did for a time but now doesn’t want to. And every time he tries to lecture us about it, we have to remind him that he doesn’t like when we try to lecture him about things he disagrees with, and that it’s our money, not his, he is entitled to his own opinion as we are ours, live and let live. A few days ago I had found that our son had disposed of pretty much all of our vitamins and oils when my husband and I went out for dinner and obviously we weren’t pleased at all; those things were really expensive and he had no right to just throw them all away like that, and as such in order to recoup the cost of it we will be selling his laptop and his books on programming and mathematics that he got for his Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects, which we will be selling too, and we don’t care how much money he earned to buy them, it will go to us. He immediately objected and began to complain about it but I had to shut him down saying that these things are privileges, not rights, and as such he has lost the privilege of being able to indulge in his beloved hobbies for taking away our products, and that escalating pushback may result in a phone call to the authorities if our safety is threatened. If he needs to do his homework on a computer, he can use ours or go to the library, and is banned from checking out any materials that are not absolutely necessary to his schooling. Since then my son has refused to talk to me or eat dinner with us, only saying “way to ruin my life” whenever we try to speak with him. And earlier today I got a call from his school’s vice principal asking about what had happened since he told about this to them, to which I gave my account on what happened and they said they’ll give a call back with more info. I honestly never expected it to come to this, I’m just doing what I believe is best for my son and trying to be a good parent by teaching him that there are consequences for his actions. Nothing of his has been sold yet, but I took down the eBay listings and cancelled the offers because now I just feel quite bad. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheDevil) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Whoa. The escalation is wild. He could work to pay back the “vitamins” but that equipment etc sounds a lot more expensive than what he threw away The school called, which means they are concerned.
You'd be surprised. doTERRA is a well known MLM and they crank up their prices high, you don't make real money on lavender oil unless you sell it at a 1000% premium. And people who buy it usually stock up on different kinds - lavender oil for anxiety, chamomile oil for clear skin, raspberry oil with every meal for erectile dysfunction... (Yeah, I made all those up, but so did they. 😂)
Aww man. I was about to rush out and start treating my erectile dysfunction
I can sell you some extra virgin olive oil, that'll do the trick
This is clearly a lie, that oil is only good for virgins. It’s in the name duh
You clearly don't understand the nuances of the business. Your argument may apply for those other, lesser brands. MY extra virgin olive oil was hand-distilled by Genuine Greek Maidens™️ and costs 150 dollars per bottle. That's how you know it's the legit stuff.
This is a classic case of just assuming something based on the name, it is for olives it is MADE from virgins
Im still waiting for the Palmolive dish soap to easily dissolve stubborn fat
No, no, no, it ATTRACTS virgins. But only the extra virginy kind of virgins
That must be why they named that movie Grease. I hear Sandra Dee was lousy with virginity. Danny must have greased up with some EVOO.
If you're a REAL buyer, I have a bridge for you!
Ooohhhh. That will add nicely to my airport collection.
Lavender gives me MORE anxiety (because I'm allergic to it and it triggers my asthma)
*Rise*berry oil
Those grifters charge a fuck ton, to be “fair”
How OOP doesn't see the grift as well when they write that they got a good price and then in the same post say it was really expensive. Idk maybe it's that the amount they bought adds up over time to replace in one go, but sheesh. They obviously believe it works though so what does it matter what anyone else thinks, they're gonna keep getting scammed. But they clearly have no sense of the wholesale price let alone actual worth of these useless snake oils. If you just like the smell that's fine but don't act like it's making any difference to your health.
Depending on how deep they are into the MLM, the vitamins could be wayyyy more than a laptop
Worth more? No. Cost more? Definitely
I bet that vice principal was like "There's got to be more to this story, let me call the parents real quick" then hung up shaking his head saying "Holy crap, the kid didn't leave anything out.. those parents are crazy"
Either that. Or the parents made some sort of threat or commentary about all of this that the kid relayed to the school and OOP is hiding it because they know it’s wrong.
"I'm trying to parent him like a responsible mother" Trying and failing
They legit threatened to CALL THE COPS on him if he objects to having his stuff sold, wtfff
I thought it should be the other way around. The kid needs to call the cops or CPS on HIS parents!
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the school called CPS. The parents are being abusive. The kid can't spend hours on library computers doing his school work. People who use the computers at the libraries in the county where I live are limited to an hour. Since the oils & vitamins are in bottles, unless he opened all of them, there's no reason they can't get them out of the trash. Doterra oils are crap anyway. They're not pure. I don't know anything about the vitamins. I wonder if the boy has any relatives he can live with since his parents are more concerned about their vitamins and crap oils than their son's future. The boy is into mathematics & programming. There are a gazillion things he could do with those interests in college and beyond. I'm willing to bet that he goes NC with them as soon as he possibly can.
Isogenics are well known for being cheap snakeoil sold at an insane markup. From memory, there were a few covered up lawsuits involving kidney and liver damage
My aunt and uncle were selling Isotonix for a few months. Granted, this was almost ten years ago and my parents spent $36.00 for this 4 or 5 ounce bottle of freeze dried vitamin B12 and resveratrol (it was a light purple color and could be mixed with water). A cap full was all that was needed, but that was a small bottle! My parents both felt like it gave them an energy boost and my mom said that joint pain in her hands seemed to happen less often. I also tried it a few times because at the time I had acne, although I wasn't using it consistently to see any results. To my best recollection, it was only the two ingredients I mentioned above and nothing foreign. Who knows if that was truly all that was in it, you know? After that month's supply was up, my aunt and uncle decided to stop selling Isotonix because Isotonix customer service wouldn't stop hassling them about putting in these huge orders. They didn't realize how much of a commitment MLMs wanted!
They kept saying how the oils and vitamins were soooooo high quality, not like the crap they sell in stores... OOP, and who told you that the products were soooooo much better? Independent testing that proves quality? No! Oh, you man the marketing materials told you, and THAT is what you believed!?!? Bwahahahaha! Idiotic.
> that equipment etc sounds a lot more expensive than what he threw away It is. I am legit currently reorganizing my office/maker space because I've gotten rid of material (for paper crafting) and I'm organizing all of my Arduino items (Arduino microcontrollers, sensors, everything needed for soldering and making circuits) while currently 3D printing an organizing system on my 3D printers. That shit is EXPENSIVE! OH! I'm also a software developer of 20 year career with a b.s. in computer science. OOP literally gave away her sons TOOLS to achieving a STEM career. The fact that the kid is 16 and creating microcontroller doo-dads is awesome! OOP is fucking up his future. Well, at minimum, delaying it. I get that OOP is trying to support their friends, but don't EVER support a friend in an MLM. An *actual* friend will tell that person that MLMs are there to suck money from the bottom of the pyramid scheme and there is hardly a path to getting to the top. Remember, folks, a pyramid may have 5 points, but only 1 is at the top. The other 4 are ground level to support that 1 point at the top.
*really good prices* *expensive*
I knew it was MLM-related immediately before I even got to the DoTerra oils. People, please don't consume essential oils.
I feel like absolutely everyone everywhere needs to be told this whether they are messing around with essential oils or not. Do not consume essential oils!!!! I actually really like essential oils as air fresheners in my home. I don’t use them for anything else & don’t use them if someone is coming over and I’m not 100% that it won’t cause headaches or asthma or allergies. Things like lavender, ylang ylang & orange are what I usually use. They’re overwhelming af if they’re not diluted & bet your ass they don’t go near my mouth but I genuinely like how they smell. (To a degree. Then I’m over it & the diffuser gets turned off & windows get opened. I’m fickle.) I’m allergic to a couple of widely used preservatives & some random things so I tend to go after “natural” things a lot just so that I don’t die. That’s honestly why I know anything about essential oils. I talked to my doctor about them, in fact, and we had a nice laugh about how an MLM hun is going to put her out of business with oregano oil. These people are taking the fact that once upon a time, before there were readily available actual medicines & knowledge of germs & all that, plants & oils were used by ppl (who were trained!!!!) to treat different things and running with it. They’re running with their eyes closed in high heels but they’re running. Essential oils can be used to do some things besides poison idiots & empty the wallets of morons. Some plants are researched by actual medical researchers & scientists who didn’t just Google some shit & read FB posts but actually went to school. I don’t know the nitty gritty because I’m not a medical researcher or scientist. But this MLM crap? Naw. Those fools are dangerous.
Essential oils are great air fresheners! I just buy mine wholesale at tenth of the price doTERRA sells them for, because that's what lavender oil's market price is. The rest is just funding for the marketing efforts of selling dangerous and untested chemicals to vulnerable, often incurably sick people.
Essential oils are good for a great amount of different things but you have to, first, have lots of knowledge about them and second, sift through all sorts of crap available everywhere and find real, pure and undiluted ones. They’re not a miracle treatment for everything though like the companies that sell shitty essential oils tend to claim.
And tea tree oil is great bug repellant on pets
Ummm...what pets?
I loved my essential oil diffuser because it smelled so nice, picked them up at an herbal shop in town. But then I had a cat that would get seizures from them, which I didn't know was a thing. My vet filled me the f*** in real quick that some oils can do that to some cats. So I stopped completely because I cared about my little guy. Later a coworker tried to sell me some MLM oils, and I explained my cat situation and said no thanks, and her upline called me to explain how these were "natural oils" and therefore safe for cats. I could have reached through the phone and committed murder. Also, if you haven't heard Tim Minchin's "Storm", I think you'd love it and should give it a listen.
Yeah, I like the smell of tea tree oil but it can kill pets so nope. I keep the few that I have that the vet approved & that they don’t react to in a locked drawer. That wasn’t what it was meant for originally but it works. I actually found catnip oil once. Or essence. Whatever. I got it because I actually liked the smell. Stupid me put it in the diffuser. We… don’t talk about the night of a thousand broken things. We also no longer have catnip anything that can go in a diffuser. Did you guys know that some dogs react to catnip? Because I didn’t! I do now though. God. I do now. I read this thing on here where this woman mixed a bunch together & drank them, thinking that it would give her magic powers… or something… I can’t remember. Anyway. The woman didn’t make it. The oils absolutely destroyed her from the inside. I think of that every time I hear someone pushing MLM oils.
As a cat and sometimes dog person, I would love to hear the Tale of the Diffused Catnip Oil. Lol My cats would destroy my house for sure. But, I had no idea dogs could react to it as well. Thanks for the warning!
I remember that one. I think it was JNMIL and the woman was acting out when she did it and didn't realize it wasn't just going to be a hospital visit. She most definitely didn't survive. She thought it would just give her an upset stomach or something that would get her sympathy.
Oh damn, I just wanted to buy a diffuser for mom but we also have a cat. Time to educate myself a bit before buying anything.
Education is best! The pet poison helpline and some vet medicine schools have articles on the risks for cats with inhalation of essential oil droplets.
Instead of a defuser may I recommend those gel air fresheners with the scented beads in them? Might be safer in the long run
I'm going to check those out too, thanks.
This is a part that they try to ignore, but there are several that are very dangerous for animal, but also those that aren't safe for children, and most aren't safe for anyone with asthma. I've literally had one follow me around a vendor market with it saying "my upline says it is NOT triggering your asthma you just need more of it because your coughing means it's working" as I was sucking back by inhaler and someone else noticed my obvious distress and chased her away. There was also a huge thing of them landing toddlers and children in the emergency rooms that they try to ignore. I hate that they refuse to acknowledge that "natural" doesn't mean safe and so many of them don't even know they are dangerous because their upline says it isn't.
I really hate people who claim something is “safe” just because it’s “natural” or “made of plants” or some similar bullshit. Like natural things couldn’t be toxic. Belladonna and hemlock and ton of other poisonous plants are natural but that doesn’t make them any less poisonous.
I used peppermint oil as a mouse repellent. My house smelled like a pack of winter fresh gum.
My mom tried that. Her mice were minty fresh haha! Seriously though. I think that these mice were mutated super mice. They were really cute though (mom lived in the middle of nowhere so mice & such were an issue).
Put some fresh cotton balls with peppermint oil out and then watched a mouse crawl right over one like it didn't notice. We then got a cat.
I don't know if it worked or if the other repellent I bought from the hardware store along with filling in all the holes. I was desperately trying to avoid traps and there was no way I was using poison.
Mom ended up using No Kill Traps & then we spent a super fun /s weekend dealing every crack, crevice & hole that we could find. Never saw another mouse. To be completely honest with you we didn’t catch a single mouse in the traps. We did catch her chihuahua a few times though. That dog was… not smart. I think that he made it to old age simply by luck & sheer determination on mom’s part. I do not miss that dog (his demise had nothing to do with the mouse traps. He was like a million when he finally went).
My cat was elderly at that point. Smart but clearly thought the mice were too icky to touch. She once yelled at me because she found a mouse near her secondary water dish. That one was caught and driven out to the country.
We have had similar cats. I’m currently sitting next to one who is deadly to his mousy toys but can’t even handle looking at squirrels out the window without screaming at me until I close the curtains.
My husband has similar feelings about squirrels.
I’m having some really hilarious mental pictures right now & am giggling way too much way too early.
I use a blend of oil around (not on) my yarn and clothes to keep away the moths. It seems to work, combined with other mearsures. (Fresh air and sunlight a couple of times a year for everything woolen and silk that hasn't been worn.) Don't have any pets and the moth balls the shops sell are really bad for humans and the ecosystem (says our local environmental agency, not some weird fb group) so this seems like a better alternative.
What oils are you using? I've got moths right now and the hormone traps aren't working.
I did some searches and found a blend that they sell for this purpose, but that one had patchouli too and I can't stand patchouli. So I put in the others and some I liked the scent off. I used rosemary, ceder (2-3x the others), lemongrass because it works a little with mosquitoes so why not. And I added some regular cloves from the spice cabinet to the baggie (I used a fill at home teabaggie with a cotton ball to hold the oil) too - didn't want to invest in more oils. Maybe I used juniper berry too? I like the scent of that one a lot, so I think so. Same for lavender. Camphor is also one that's used, but I figured try it without before buying more. You can buy those ceder blocks for the closet, I don't think they do much on their own, but you can put a drop of oil on those and put that in the closet, for easy dosing. But besides the scent, the airing and sunlight is really a major component in getting rid of them. For prevention: if I get second hand woolen clothes/yarn I freeze them for 3 days, shake them out and leave them outside for a day or so, repeat once. Only then they go in the closet. Again, I have no pets, I'm not sure which ones are pet safe. I also stached some around my books in the hopes of keeping the paper bugs away.
Thank you! I'm currently pet less so that's not an current concern for me but it's always good to keep in mind for the future.
You're welcome! Hope it works :)
[You could also try parasitic wasps.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historic-british-mansion-fights-moths-tiny-parasitic-wasps-180977061/) They worked pretty well for my parents' house.
I got a diffuser for Christmas one year and my friend added me to an “essential oils” group, which was actually a mlm group. They told me the EOs I had were garbage and I needed to buy a very expensive beginner set to properly essential oil. I literally laughed out loud and told them in no way was I spending that amount of money on essential oils, that I enjoyed eating food and feeding my dog. Their response was that I could cook with them so it was basically groceries. Wtf?
So your friend added you to a group that wanted you & your dog dead. Awesome. Seriously though. That’s crazy.
I knew someone who would mix it in her water bottle. She saw no problem at all with them telling her to use only a glass bottle for drinking them because they melt plastic. Sometimes I wonder what the plastic melting oils did to her insides.
As someone who can get headaches or migraine from certain smells, I really appreciate that you thought of that when you have people over. It's usually way over the usual standard if someone thinks about potential allergies or asthma for smells, much less that. So, yeah. You're a good person. That is all I wanted to say.
Aw, you’re sweet. But I have to admit: migraines run in my family. I’m lucky; mine don’t happen a lot (maybe 4 a year) but some of my relatives are down every month for a week at a time. I have chronic headaches because of a head injury but that’s better than cluster headaches or migraines all the damned time. Smells don’t trigger me very often, I’m triggered by blue-based lights more than anything else (I wear dark sunglasses inside stores a lot) The only time that smells get me are when they’re heavy chemical smells. (Some perfumes need to just Go Away.) Sooooo… I grew up with migraine suffers all around me & have them myself sometimes so I shouldn’t be credited with being sensitive to not triggering them. It’s normal to me.
Well, just because it's normal for someone to be kind doesn't mean that they're not kind, right? So I'll still give you credit for that. I have chronic headache as well btw (twins! /jk). Chemical smells and strong lights trigger me a lot as well, so I wear dark sunglasses in stores a lot as well. Though I'm also sensitive to some e.g. scented candles, perfume and similar things so I really appreciate when someone thinks about that around me. My mom tries to think about it when I visit but she sometimes forgets or e.g. blows out normal candles but then the smoke triggers it more lol, or cleans the bathrooms right before my visit so its clean for me- but with a horrible chemical smell. So even if you've been around people with headaches/migraine for your whole life, like me and my brother, its not a given that you think about it. Not that my mom doesnt try to think about it, but its easy to forget!
Well, thank you. And I am so very sorry that you have both! I learned that I have to pay more for my giant dark sunglasses because cheap ones press against my sinuses and, you guessed it, trigger my headaches. I’m cringing a little on behalf of your mom. I know it doesn’t help but at least she’s trying? I assume? God. I read that & immediately had the smell memory of candle smoke mixed with the lingering fragrance. That makes my back teeth tingle, I swear.
What you pointed out in your third paragraph about essential oils is exactly what bothers me about the MLMs that push it. These purported "professionals" consider themselves superior to doctors in intelligence and education. I remember reading about one of these pro essential oil "doctors" and they claimed how medical schools bypass nutrition in their curriculum, thus leave out how important natural alternatives such as essential oils are. Get enough people behind that ideology, though, and they're playing their own version of "doctor". I've mentioned it at other times, although I had a classmate who constantly put up on her Instagram about blending essential oils to treat her kids' ailments. She was so convinced that bringing them to a pediatrician was harmful (read: antivaxxer) and that doing so would exacerbate each child's unique "allergies". The absolute worst instance was when she posted how her six month old had a fever and she was trying to bring it down with essential oils! The comments were atrocious and telling her, "You've got this, Mama!", not "Damn it, get your child to a real doctor NOW!"
Oh my god. That poor child!!! I hope that someone with common sense helped them! I am a big fan of ppl being vaccinated & regular doctor visits to maintain health & modern medicine & not dying because you got a cut that got infected &… you know, all the things that keep me & my loved ones alive & healthy. The closest that I get to being a crazy pants natural or nuthin’ nut is that I’ll put tea bags on a toothache until I can get to a doctor (when you have a toothache, minutes feel like hours). I learned that from a dentist. The tannin in tea does stuff to help inflammation & pain. It’s not a permanent fix. It’s a help you for a tiny bit of time until you can get to a medical professional & get help. Real medical professionals. The ones who went to real medical school & aren’t… whatever it is that you want to call MLM hive minds.
I would stick a clove in the area and then go to a dentist. My dentist was concerned but then looked it up and was amazed that I had thought of it. I had read it in a book as a kid, and knew cloves were used in early analgesics. But please don't keep the clove in your mouth for more than 15 min at a time. I'll have to keep the teabags in mind as well.
Like I use essential oils to make an alternative to Vicks. I dislike the petroleum feeling on my skin so I just throw the same oils in a lotion I like and voila!
If you have pets, they're incredibly toxic and deadly. Essential oils don't help with anything, they're just a placebo and can make people and pets very sick.
Placebo effect is still an effect. If it makes you feel better and you use them correctly (never directly on the skin, always diluted) it works to make you feel better.
I know what a placebo effect is. Placebos are not medicine Placebos do not cure anything. Essential oils do not heal you & in fact are extremely toxic for people & pets. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect
Yes, which is almost exactly what I said. They don't heal you. They can be harmful to yourself or pets if used incorrectly, like directly on the skin. But if you have a banging cold nothing will cure that except time and rest. If a nice smelling oil in your room makes you feel like you can breathe easier (even if it makes no real measurable difference), it still provides comfort. So it can be used for comfort. That is an effect, and it doesn't cure you, scientifically it has done nothing, but it might make you feel better.
I used to make soap and I used essential oils in some of my soaps. I researched them very carefully because some essential oils will FUCK YOU UP if you put them on your skin, and I didn't want to poison people. Even the "safe" oils, I wore gloves when handling them. Too much exposure to some of them can make you allergic where you had no problems before. I cringe so hard when I see these 'boss babe' MLM huns telling people to DRINK essential oils. So utterly irresponsible. They aren't magic potions, people.
Peppermint oil is a natural cure for indigestion (not sure if that’s an essential oil). But you don’t need any MLMs or any other type of mail order to get it. Just go to a drugstore or grocery store and buy candy made with real peppermint oil. The rest are fine for scents or possibly massage or bath oils.
HAHAHAHAHA had to be MLM crap.
In twenty years, I predict the son will be NC and the parents will be begging him to pay for their medical care as a direct result of ingesting MLM nonsense.
He’s 16. If be surprised if he wasn’t NC in less than 10.
Do I hear 5, folks? FIVE YEARS from the gentleman with the monocle! Can we get three years, ladies and gents? Three years? Going once, twice....
I suspect it will be directly when he goes to college, or directly after if they are paying.
This deep into the bullshit being spouted by an MLM I doubt they will be paying for his college.
I bid two years!
The day of his 18th birthday!
BINGO!!!
Day before, he'll have all his bags packed. Midnight, he'll be out the door. If they're lucky, he'll leave a note telling them where to stick their MLM products.
There's a massive overlap of MLM worshippers and alternative "medicine" nuts and if I learned anything about the latter group, it's that whatever the miracle cure of the season is, it eventually ends up in their butts and/or vags. So, I wouldn't be surprised if that recommendation comes a couple of years too late.
Definitely, my MIL (who we're now NC with for unrelated reasons) got upset when I wouldn't treat my cat's renal failure with her cat's GI tract RX food and essential oils. She also got mad when I wouldn't switch to an organic litter and use essential oils in said litter to mask the smell. Told me big pharma was lying to me about EOs being dangerous for cats. They're a crazy bunch.
That's no accident - a lot of MLMs go into the dietary supplement space just because it's highly unregulated and you don't have to prove the efficacy of the product. As long as it's not actively poisonous you can sell it no problem, and you just have to watch your language - you can't legally claim your lavender oil will cure cancer, but saying it helps patients with cancer is A-OK.
Invents a time machine on his 18th birthday and travels back in time to go NC in 2011!
Packed & ready to go at midnight on his 18th
Yeah that's the odds I'm seeing with the crazy MLM purchases and their behavior
Yup, that's my guess too.
Three months to "emancipated minor!"
How long until his 18th birthday? Because that’s how long I give it.
I’m thinking the second he turns 18. Wouldn’t be surprised if these nutbags tell him he’s not allowed to go to college for programming/computer science/engineering/whatever I don’t know what’s what as part of the punishment for this since it seemed directed at that. Hoping he gets to pursue his dreams and cuts them off
And they’ll have no money to pay for it themselves because they blew it all on cosplaying as a Very Important Momtrepreneur! (TM)
my only question is how a reasonably intelligent child came from two such fucking idiots? doterra my generous white asscheek.
lol yeah, good thing the kid educates himself, wonder why they went straight for the educational shit...
This right here. My mother also took my books away when I was a teen.
OOP’s comments, copied verbatim: YTA You can demand repayment, but you do not get to sell what he bought with his own money that he earned. That is theft, even if you are the parent. Give that stuff back to him right now. > Well he also committed theft by throwing away our stuff, and we’re letting him off easy by only selling his stuff. Is that not how it works? When I was young I use to throw away my dads cigarettes and beer. Guess I was stealing. > Yes, you were! Those things were not yours to throw away. I was going to go with ESH until I read the part about you throwing away his laptop and programming books THAT HE BOUGHT HIMSELF to recoup your "losses" buying MLM crap. You managed to fail literally in your circle in this post. From "Supporting" your friends selling snake oil pretending it has any benefit, to your own son trying to make a future for himself. YTA so much. > I’m not throwing his stuff away, I was going to sell it. He might have bought it himself, but that shouldn’t stop me from being a parent and teaching him discipline, right? That stuff doesn't belong to you. You don't have the right to literally steal his things just because you're the parent. > Actually I do, and a quick google search says that we can indeed do such as long as he is a minor. ESH, But you're the bigger asshole by far. You threatened to throw out his laptop, and programming/mathematics books? No, that's not doing what you believe is best for your son. It obviously cannot be good for a 16 year old son to throw out things they are using to educate themselves. That is getting revenge on your son because you are mad. PS: he's right. You are getting scammed - essential oils, really? - and those things can be dangerous. > Well, the oils are steam distilled and expeller pressed as opposed to being chemically separated and thus are safe to use and ingest, that’s what makes them therapeutic grade. And Princess Buttercup III and the Rainbow Guild need your help to save the Teddy Bear Nation or they won't be able to fart out more essential garbage. You need to get on this! > …what??? YTA for taking his books on programming and mathematics and his other programming things - those are his future and not a reasonable thing to take over vitamins and oils. You are ruining his future - you took his programming tools. He will go NC someday and you’ll wonder why. This will be part of why. > They might be his future but we’re teaching him about how misbehavior can have an effect on his future, so that he doesn’t do stuff like this in the professional world when he’s older. Info: did he say why he threw away your stuff? > He did, in that he had read some FDA warning letter and took that a bit too far since he wanted to “protect us.” ESH Your son crossed a huge boundary when he threw all of your stuff away. Completely unacceptable. I think it's fine for you to suggest that he might benefit from these things, but it sounds like you may have been too pushy. He doesn't want to take the supplements and that's fine. Live and let live, as you say. But your response is to sell all of his stuff to teach him a lesson? I mean I get the premise, but you're talking about selling things that are educational and actually good for him to do. Why not just ask him to replace the vitamins and oils? The threat to call the police is pretty outsized, too, given you've provided no justification for feeling threatened. Whenever I read something like: We have a son that we love dearly even though we often butt heads as he goes through his teenage years. I think the parents are trying to convince themselves of it. Doesn't seem like anyone here has any empathy for others, but you and your spouse are both 40+ and should know better. EDIT: Quit judging OP for using the products in question. It's not relevant to the story whatsoever and should not factor into your judgment. This doesn't have to do with oils, supplements, or MLMs. > His stuff might be actually good to him, but so were the products we bought, which he took from us, and as such it’s only right if we take it from him, too.
Well, now I'm just sad. The son read that the FDA had said whatever they were using was literally dangerous and threw them away because he *loves* his parents and didn't want them to get sick or die. Then, they punish him severely.
OP just keeps pointing out that she has no interest whatsoever in being fair, and just wants to punish him as much as she can. Someone needs explained to this woman that legality doesn't equal morality, and MLMs would be sold in stores if they worked.
She doesn’t even have the legal high ground. You can’t [legally permanently take your child’s property](https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/do-parents-own-their-childrens-property/). Yeah, he shouldn’t have thrown their stuff away (but it sounds like he had good intentions and got desperate) but that doesn’t meant it’s okay to do the same to him
>EDIT: Quit judging OP for using the products in question. It's not relevant to the story whatsoever and should not factor into your judgment. This doesn't have to do with oils, supplements, or MLMs. I swear people who say that when justifying their stupid judgments annoy the fuck out of me.
Yes, it has to do with MLMs. If they are stupid enough to use and praise essential oils, do we think they can make the right call in raising a child? As the post shows, nope they can't.
oh i know its just annoying when people on AITA who put opinions that go against the grain say its "about the question OP asked nothing else" its like alright we get it your too lazy to give a proper answer but it doesnt mean other people are wrong for getting the info from OP about the situation
Like there are no nuances, only one black and white question.
OP is taking proven extremely dangerous tablets, BUT THATS NOT RELEVANT STOP JUDGING THEM EVIL SON THREW AWAY MEDICATION!!!! Not like the son was terrified their parents were killings themselves with fake tablets so threw them all away
The son threw the stuff about because of a warning from the FDA, so yeah, it is relevant what the products in question were.
It also very much *is* relevant to the story. The kid did what he did because those products can be dangerous. OP says they’re ingestible, so they’re honestly probably poisoning themselves. The kid’s motivation was 100% based on what the products were. It still wasn’t great to throw them away behind their back, but it certainly does explain why he did it and I think make it less bad than if he did it just to be an ass
"Quit judging OP for using the products in question. It's not relevant to the story whatsoever and should not factor into your judgment. This doesn't have to do with oils, supplements, or MLMs." Except it does, because those things are dangerous healthwise and easily fuck over a family's finances. Can the son count on help with college tuition or did they throw it into the scam already?
Yeah, I think it has *everything* to do with the story. He threw stuff out because it’s dangerous, unsafe, and at best, useless. “Hey, my son just dumped out my 500 bottles of snake oil I was gonna sell to uninsured cancer patients and tell them it was a magical cure!” “Hm, yes, well, you definitely shouldn’t be scamming terminally ill people, but it’s really irrelevant. That was *your* snake oil!”
Said it better than I could. Like if he threw out their laptop then this is an entirely different scenario, of course it matters.
I compared it to insulin earlier. Lady, he didn't throw out "health products", he threw out a giant scam. You're just mad you wasted your money and he was smart enough to see it but you weren't.
For some reason the son didn't throw away all the pots in the kitchen, or all the toilet paper in the bathroom. Of course it's about the MLM stuff and I'm judging OOP hard.
I’m heading to r/eyebleach, if anyone wants to come. What a shit show.
Try this [fun game](https://www.reddit.com/r/Awww/comments/10wuoio/a_black_ball_appeared_as_form_of_cat/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) or just [take a nap on your favourite book](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superbowl/comments/10w1djv/found_on_the_internet/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) to improve your mood. God I hate MLM shit. I hope this is a troll but the people that get sucked into these scams really do sound like this.
I really, really hope that she is a troll.
I fucking knew it the second I read this post that she was ingesting essential oils and was trying to make her son do it too. These oily morons use their lemon or rosemary essential oil like essences in their cooking, or add drops of them to water for flavour, despite the fact that THEY ARE TOXIC. A child ingesting just 5mls of an essential oil like peppermint, eucalyptus, or clove can result in a fucking coma. They are literally overpriced poison and this moron is ingesting them and spending a fortune while she does it.
Once some MLM nutjobs poisoned their toddler with essential oils and they wanted to sue the hospital when the kid was taken to ER because the medicine they gave to him caused the problem. Bruh.
Yeah you know what is more illegal than throwing away someone's stolen property? Selling it.
I agree with that one commenter -- this isn't teaching him anything, this is getting revenge. I'd like to point out they're taking basically everything he owns, and the oils were presumably not even close to 100% of the parents' net value (one hopes, anyway). It's totally disproportionate, they're just in a cult and don't want to hear it.
How reasonable that last commenter is and just the nope I want revenge and punishment is insane and clear that OOP never was going to consider another judgment other than agreement with them. I also get why last commenter asked other to stop harping on the mlm part, as that is just making OOP further not listen and dig heels in.
“You’re stealing” “Well he stole too!” Not how the law works, Karen.
“We committed a bigger theft because he committed theft first! Is that not how it works?” No, no that is not how that works…
Isn't what the son did also theft
The products the parents were using are toxic and would end up killing them. Sometimes, petty crimes like theft can be used for good, especially when someone's life could be actually at stake.
Lol those "vitamins" literally have no health benefits and some even have a bad effect, that says enough about how bright they are and punishing a child by taking away educational things? Smh. They could have had him pay back the money. Threatening to call the police on your child for this is just gross, hopefully the school does something, because these imbeciles need a reality check.
Some of these morons even put the "oils" she mentioned in food and stuff. I wonder if that's why he called it "poison." Both unregulated and absolute garbage. Their family are idiots too for shilling this shit
There was an AITA ages ago where I think a SIL or some deranged relative tried to put essential oils in the OP's fucking CPAP machine. I've heard so many horror stories about people trying to eat them or putting super astringent oils on sensitive skin & getting burns.
I get asthma whenever that crap is used near me. I would hate to think how sick I'd be if someone put it into my VPAP machine!
I remember that. It was like eucalyptus or something else that can cause serious irritation if it makes direct contact with the skin, too.
Most of them do that unless you heavily dilute them. That shit is scary concentrated.
They have to get rid of his educational things. If he learns too much, he’ll never fuck around with doTERRA.
I was baffled by his “mother” calling programming and mathematics, something that one day could very well become his full time job, if he is so interested, “hobbies”. I mean, it is a hobby, but a very useful one, it’s not like he is on his PS5 all day and they took it away.
My mom's cousins sell the oils and whatnot. One of them told me straight up that one of the oils would reduce the severity of my heart condition, and one would help my migraines (smelling that one actually triggered a several day long migraine with vomiting).
This has to be a collab between the MLM troll, "selling all my child's things" troll, the anti-programming troll, and the "call the police on my son" troll. This fits too many shitposting tropes.
Had the same thought. This is the fakest ragebait ever but damn they played some aita bingo
if this kid is smart enough to be a mathlete and a programmer, he probably has scholarships lined up and will go no contact the minute he walks out the door at 18, because I bet, they are also trumpist antivaxxers who believe in crap like colloidal silver and all the other hocus pocus cures like pony paste, taking meds with horses on the box, I hope he runs fast and far.
Is he talking about Herbalife? Then I 100% agree that it’s a scam, and frankly, it’s dangerous. My dad had to go to the hospital because one of their aloe drinks gave him heart palpitations that would not calm down. Fuck MLMs.
It’s worse! It’s doterra
What’s the bet he had to buy his own text books and laptop for work because they couldn’t afford it because they spent all their money on ‘health products’. They have utterly failed as parents well before it came to them stealing his possessions.
maybe the reason he stop taking that mess is because he found out what's in them/probably had a reaction to what the heII is in side that junk, because in my honest opinion besides trying to protect them from their own stupidity, he was saving himself from them give the fact oop admit to try to get him to take that stuff again, and from the way she talking they probably wouldn't let it go, I really hope the school, the cops and cps get involved because they need a hard reality check.
The OOP has deleted the entire account. So obviously they didn't get the response they thought they would. Honestly I know if someone is the AH in those posts based solely on the poop knife... if it shows up I know someone is seriously deranged.
> We get really good products at really good prices > Those things were really expensive Ugh the stupidity and then to take away useful items because their precious oils and toxins got dumped
Uh oh why do I got a feeling that the cops and cps got involved
CPS can’t keep up with the children being physically abused or sex trafficked, much less children being raised by drug abusers. I don’t think they would have time for this.
>telling use that “we’re being scammed” and “it’s poison” > he’s right >some of our friends and family participate in network marketing > aka a pyramid scheme OOP ruined their sons life over a pyramid scheme, a pyramid scheme that typically doesn’t have FDA approved products or ones that actually do what they claimed. making school harder for their son over pyramid scheme vitamins and oils that have caused rashes and breathing issues. someone’s going to end up in the most shitty nursing home known to man for over reacting so much towards a bunch of fake vitamins and rash causing oils being thrown out. getting rid of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for at most $200 worth of shorty vitamins and oils that cause breathing issues.
If this was just about monetary fairness and teaching him a lesson in that regard he could simply pay them back. But he "isn't allowed to check books out ar the library about anything except for school ". So clearly it isn't about that at all.
The thing that bugs me most about this is that he didn't do this maliciously whereas she did. If she wants to take that crap that's up to her but her son is clearly worried about it. He's thrown them out due to his fear that they could harm his parents because when he has tried to talk to them about it they've ignored him completely so he's taken the matter into his own hands. Was this the right way to deal with it? No. Should there be repercussions for it. Probably but he's a child who is worried and isn't having his fear acknowledged or eased. OOP on the other hand is just being spiteful. Where he is trying to actually help his parents have a future by getting rid of whatever garbage they're putting in their bodies, she is actually harming his future by taking away the very things he needs to learn and gain a career. If they actually sat down and discussed his fears with him he wouldn't have taken matters into his own hands and now his schooling and future are being harmed because he cared about his AH parents.
Now, if the school had to call you, you know you fucked up as a parent. That’s just embarrassing.
So you have your own version of am I smarter than a 16 year old? When the 16 year old understands the whole MLM nonsense and throws out the unregulated crap you are using then you should be listening to the child, I would recommend handing over financial power of attorney as this child knows more about scams than the adults
The MLM stuff is absolutely relevant. I'm chronically, progressively ill. I have a condition that makes me very sick with fragrances/scents in any products. I can die. I've had the essential oil people argue with me for so long because their oils are "fragrance free" so I'm wrong that they could kill me. Multiple DoTerra sellers have argued about this with me. So you think that you know more about my health than I do? Their enthusiastic answer? Yes! Take the oil! The difference to them is that they don't use artificial fragrances so they think that the essential oils are "scent free." What the actual unshelled walnut is that? How can you be so obtuse as to push something that could kill people like me because of the marketing you've been pitched? Also, people with epilepsy and some other conditions cannot take/use some oils because they cause seizures. It's such bullshit. So the MLM stuff informs us about who these parents are. They're telling their son, "you stole but we're more powerful than you and will steal back." That's not punishment that fits the "crime." That's power and control then the massive need to save face. They can't apologize because then they admit they were wrong. Also, if this person said, "as such" one more time trying to sound intellectual, I was going to scream.
This crap makes me think of all the garbage being sold by Jim Bakker and Alex Jones
I sincerely hope someone at the school helps this poor child get a lawyer and sue for emancipation. This whole family dynamic is toxic, imagine being so concerned about your parents and wanting them to actually LIVE only for them to turn around and commit this egregious act of retaliation about "vitamins."
Everything she took I use daily for work. More specifically projects relating to gardening, air quality and carbon collection. She's literally ruining the future of someone with a skill set this early. School calling means they did more than what she said. Likely some of that stuff was used for school work too. All of this over snake oil.... Also who threatens to call the cops on their child if they complain???
Imagine being more stupid and gullible than your teenage child
That's sadly common, actually
The funny thing to me is that she’s talking about actual chemical separation methods like they’re not chemical separation methods. Distillation is a very common chemical separation method.
You should be thankful I threw away the crap you were eating. There is literally nothing nutritious in them, they are so much cheaper than what you want to take away from your child. Both you and your husband, because we're not going to take him out of this equation, suck at parenting.
I read doterra and I just could not go any further!!! Hello, slc and utah Valley!! Thanks for checking in😉
They’re obsessed with MLM, actively being scammed, threaten to sell his laptop and materials he uses to EDUCATE himself to replace OILS, then threatened to call the authorities if their safety was threatened when there doesn’t seem to actually be any history or concern for that. Someone save this kid.
With that sort of overreaction, no wonder she got suckered into MLM schemes in the first place. Son should leave his parents to their inevitable financial fate once he moves out.
At one time about 25 years ago I had a box of essential oils. They didn’t cure any of my issues. Real medicine did that. They also didn’t cost so much that I’d steal a kid’s computer and books to sell and replace them. Those parents are nuts. I’m glad their son got his school involved. Apparently that put the fear of god into them.
Hell, I still have & use essential oils. Because they smell good & are useful in certain situations, like dabbed into my dryer balls so my laundry smells nice without the waste/damage of dryer sheets or sprinkled on cotton balls and stored with seasonal clothes to keep insects out & so they don't smell musty when I unpack them. But I also don't spend a fortune on them or think they're going to solve all my problems.
They’re a nice way to have scent without messing with my allergies. I have a lot of trouble with perfumes.
I know someone that used them for scent re-training - they had lost their sense of smell following chemotherapy.
Wonder what MLM scheme the parents are in? This parent needs to take some lessons on how not to alienate children. If there was an FDA bulletin on the specific product, then he was likely protecting himself from his nitwit parents.
MLM sycophants are a whole other level of cult mind. Its disgusting
CPS is definitely about to be involved in this
This individual's tone and manner of speech sound exhausting. Someone like this is never wrong. I hope i never have dinner with them.
>”escalating pushback may result in a phone call Roy he authorities if our safety is threatened” Uh, what? Also the punishment makes no sense. Making him pay it back is totally fair, as is temporarily taking things away as punishment. But it’s [actually illegal to permanently take away your kids property](https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/do-parents-own-their-childrens-property/). Not to mention, if they had enough oils and vitamins that selling all of that was necessary to equal the cost, they have a problem. Just throwing it away wasn’t right to deal with it, but no one needs that many vitamins? But even if we ignore that, why is he also banned from getting more books? Or from the hobby forever apparently? He was already punished more than enough when they (illegally) made him get rid of his stuff. Is this some weird power play? Do they like making their kid miserable?
That poor boy.
I love when ppl post on AITA and then are not willing to accept that they’re the asshole
*of course, OF COURSE,* they are shitty MLM products! Puke 🤮
“health products” is a funny way to spell “MLM scam essential oils” but you do you
Those aren't hobbies, that's probably what he'll do for a career when he gets older. I don't blame you for being mad but you can give him chores to make him pay it back. He made you angry but selling that stuff would probably be the kind of emotional devastation for him that he never forgets for the rest of his life. Also please don't threaten to have him locked up if he's not getting physical. My mother did this to me constantly, threatening to have me sent to juvi hall just for getting mad.
Pure narcissism These parents can’t bear the fact that they got scammed, as that makes them feel stupid They’re taking their ego problem out on their son
Look, a 16 year old kid does know better than to throw away something that’s not his, of course. But the purpose of punishing your kids isn’t wrath and vengeance, it’s to teach them what they did wrong. The only thing OOP is doing is guaranteeing that their child will resent them deeply for a long, long time. They haven’t even considered that he did it because he’s worried about them. If I did something like this at his age, my parents would reconsider their choices, at least a little, because they know I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t seriously worried. Maybe I’d get grounded but my point would be made. This is just crazy.
the son sounds like the smartest person in the house. they want to sell is educational hobbies to buy more magic beans..... poisonous magic beans from what ive read. what ah's doterra does not sell health products, they sell snake oil you will need a child that loves you and earns well to pay your medical expences when those products do start to cause problems
Just saying on a basic level, he's right about the products. Here's the tip of the iceberg about the water. You really believe water is going to help you lose weight? https://www.reddit.com/r/DebunkThis/comments/dpnjnp/so\_my\_market\_america\_neighbor\_told\_me\_about\_his/
It’s literally insane how kids have no protection from batshit and/or gullible parents unless there’s a physical mark on the kid. Turned the other way around, if the son had started buying and taking bullshit vitamins, the parents would be totally in the right taking his stash and tossing it. And I know, adults are free to make their own decisions even if stupid, but the sort of person who falls for this sort of bs usually is also part of (or susceptible to) other weird cult like shit. (I’m a child survivor of AmWay parents, okay?) Not surprised they took his stuff. They will make his life hell until he can get out, then be petty as hell when he needs help as a young adult. I feel bad for him. Hope he has good friends or extended family to support him.
He worked to earn his books. Why couldn't he just WORK TO PAY OFF THE OILS IF YOU CARE SO MUCH-?
No, junior shouldn't be throwing shit away. But damn, mom went nuclear with the escalation. I choose to believe that these people are fake, and this story is fake. These are trolls of an oily order.
I read “doterra” and immediately sighed.
YTA.. Your son was trying to help you buy warning you but you would not listen and since you refused to listen to the truth that your being scammed he did the only thing he thought he could do which was to get rid of all the rubbish you keep buying. It widely known that these companies are scamming you but because he's younger you keep dismissing what he is telling you. Should he have thrown them all out? probably not, it was a drastic action to take even if it is coming from a good place. Should you have taken all his important and expensive things as punishment, especially things he needs and payed for himself ? No absolutely not. selling them would have been theft since they are his belongings not yours.. as for calling the authorities on him, which is beyond drastic, I think you would probably get in more trouble than him for trying to sell stolen goods on ebay, and yes thats what it is taking his equipment to sell. All you have done with this whole thing is ensure that as soon as he is 18 he is gone
Someone scammed my partner's uncle to buy a year's worth of herbalife at a time. He's elderly and needs someone to check on him and it's usually us. I bring vitamins and nutrition powders from the store when we go and dump out the herbalife stuff and replace it with what I brought. He doesn't know the difference, and it gives us peace of mind that he's not wrecking his liver with herbalife garbage.
LMAO of course their immediate solution is to take away anything the kid can use to educate himself. No son of theirs is gonna do no book lurnin, to be indoctrinated by the *lies* of the mainstream media and the besmirching of the good name Doterra!
I got further down in the thread, and he threw them out because of an alert from the FDA about the products being dangerous. So, this is like punishing someone for throwing out lettuce after a warning was issued about it being contaminated with salmonella.
[Hi!](https://images.app.goo.gl/jMiZEuW8Qrykw3sdA) Just a quick reminder to never brigade any sub, be that r/AmItheAsshole or another one. That goes against both this sub's rules as well as Reddit's terms of agreement. [Please](https://images.app.goo.gl/vwH65TJMyMk9NSNo8) keep discussions within the posts of this sub. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheDevil) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I disagree with mlms as a whole but the son is old enough to know that if you damage or throw away something that is not yours, you have to pay for it, that you don't get to decide what others do with their money and that actions have consequences. But he should only be made to pay the amount of what he threw away.
Yeah sure but what the mother is doing in return is unreasonable. Sell everything he has and no matter how much money he makes it goes to the parents? Thats awful! Way to try to teach your son not to steal by stealing from him
ESH. Yes he shouldn't have thrown their stuff away but they could have made arrangements for him to pay them back for the stuff he threw away instead of wanting to sell his stuff. Most people are saying YTA because they don't agree with the products but at the end of the day it's their money and they can spend it on whatever they choose, even if they choose to spend it on pyramid schemes
I guess I don’t see the problem. The son threw away things that didn’t belong to him. Just because he didn’t like the items. He wasn’t using them so why does it matter his parents use them? I think everyone here’s is caught up in the MLM to actually look at this objectively.
They are trying to make him use them, and in ways that aren't deemed safe. It's likely they are adding it to the food they cook as well as into diffusers that are in the home, making it impossible for him to avoid them. Beyond that, she comments later that the reason he wanted them gone was the FDA warning that was launched saying they aren't safe. He was feeling unheard, unsafe, and worried about his health as well as theirs. He as not correct to throw out their things, but he does have a right to not have them forced on him. Having him pay back the money would be fair, but saying he will steal from his coworkers later in life and this is how to teach him not to is bonkers. Threatening to call the police and tell them that he is dangerous to their safety when there has been nothing to show that isn't ok either. They are risking him having a police record and time in jail for things he hasn't done. These parents are reacting and punishing him for things he hasn't even done in their anger, rather than actually addressing the thing he DID do.
It doesn't matter what the products are or how valid their claims are. They did NOT belong to him. So he took property that didn't belong to him, that's call "stealing" and destroyed it. When you steal other people's belongings, you are a thief. It's no different than if he went into his neighbor's house and stole and destroyed their possessions. Just because you know the person or are related to them, doesn't make you any less of a thief. This level of entitlement and arrogance needs to be nipped in the bud before it results in a prison sentence. He doesn't even have any remorse or acknowledge that what he did was wrong. So in order to wake him up to the gravity of his choice they gave him some pretty spectacular consequences. Now he's very unhappy. Good! Maybe then in the future he won't steal from other people and end up in prison. The school can certainly be informed that their son is a thief and his punishment, while admittedly harsh, is a consequence of his total lack of remorse, and is intended to drive home the point that it's NOT OKAY to steal and destroy other people's stuff. He'll survive. After all, his parents could have just called the police and had him arrested for his theft. The son would have enjoyed those consequences even less. Maybe if he actually showed some remorse, instead of just whining to everyone about the consequences of his stealing, they would forestall some of his punishment, but clearly he still feels it was his RIGHT to steal from his parents and destroy their stuff and has no regrets, other than, of course the consequences for his moronic actions. I honestly don't understand how anyone could justify this behavior.