Chewy chicken

I was in the food market today, by the fish section and got my flounder. Here comes a young mom with her 10 years old boy, she points to the glass shelve and say:
"Look, it's octopus on the plate."

Her boy replied: "Eww." And turned his head away.

I said to the boy, "it actually tasted pretty good, pretty pretty good!"

He looks at me in doubt, still shaking his head a bit. The mother asks me: "How does it taste exactly?"

"It taste like a chewy chicken, with some texture in it, very good source of protein. This style right here was cooked with a teriyaki sauce, added some sweetness in it." I replied.

The store keeper interferes, that a free sample was offered.

The boy still turn his head away, thinking it is a gross food.

I said to the boy: "try it, it's free, and you get to try something new today. Be adventurous, you never know what the future holds?!"
The mother agrees but she wasn't trying it neither!

What I saw is the mother telling her son octopus is a gross food, putting a prejudice conclusion in his little head before he even try it, or willing to try it. I think if I am a mother, I would never tell my child my personal conclusion before he / she can try it and make a comment on his / her own.

I guess most people aren't that adventurous. Unlike it when I was a child, my parent encouraged me to try different things, go figure it out yourself, never set a limit to tell me what I can not do or what I should not try (except bad things like drug), always push the limit even when you think you have reach your peak.

By now, I think back and really feel happy that they let me try things I never imagined, I rode motorbike, I went diving, rock climbing, white-water drafting, bungee jumping, sky-diving..... I did all these before I was 24. Mom sometime just say it was dangerous for some action such as the sky-diving one, she was not crazy about it but she was there, always support me and tell me "BE ADVENTUROUS, you never know what the future holds."