Cristal Johnson and her son Cameron had their lemonade stand shut down by the Alabama Labor Department (Pictures: Cristal Johnson/Facebook)
An 8-year-old boy and his mother started a lemonade stand and looked to bring on a couple of apprentices to spread entrepreneurship skills.
Cristal Johnson posted on social media last Thursday that she and her son Cameron were seeking two children to be a ‘smiler’ and a ‘greeter’ in a ‘one-day apprenticeship’.
She offered two-hour shifts and to pay the children $20, on top of the main objective of teaching them business skills.
‘I was trying to teach them exactly what I’m trying to teach my son, just how to handle money. Customer service skills. Teach the little boys how to shake hands correctly. And just little things like that,’ Johnson said on Fox & Friends First on Thursday.
Cameron was running a lemonade stand to raise money to go to Disney World (Picture: Cristal Johnson/Facebook)
‘That’s all I was trying to accomplish.’
But instead of hearing from prospective apprentices, the duo were contacted by the Alabama Labor Department who informed them that a complaint was filed claiming that their lemonade stand violated child labor laws.
The labor department told Johnson that the lemonade stand had to be shut down because they could have profited by selling cups of the drink.
A complaint was filed against Cameron and his mother for running a lemonade stand that allegedly violating child labor laws’ (Picture: Cristal Johnson/Facebook)
Cameron, who was running the lemonade stand to make money to go to Disney World, ‘got sad’ upon learning the news, his mother said.
Johnson said her own feelings were hurt.
‘I was shocked,’ she said. ‘There’s no way a decent person would gather that I was trying to hire minors to do any type of work for me.’
Cameron and his mother were looking to take on two apprentices to greet and smile at customers for their lemonade stand (Picture: Cristal Johnson/Facebook)
Johnson does not know who reported her to the labor department. But she vowed that the act will not deter their goals.
‘Although my heart was in the right place.. someone else’s was not,’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘That person is no doubt reading this message, and this is for you: You CANNOT stop what is destined to be! You didn’t win! All you did is make me figure out another way.’
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A complaint filed with the Alabama Labor Department accused the boy and his mum of violating child labor laws.