There is nothing better than a family fishing trip. Kids love casting their lines into the water and seeing what they can pull out. If luck holds up, you’ll often be going home with a fresh and tasty dish for dinner too.
Although, sometimes kids don’t always grasp the concept of fishing in the ways that you would expect them to.
That’s what happened when mom Marika Daniels took her three youngsters to the children’s museum in Brookings, South Dakota recently to wrangle some big ones. The museum maintains a small stocked fishing pond for kids, and it turns out, it’s a pretty fruitful fishing spot. Four-year-old Levi, three-year-old Logan, and 18-month-old Landon Daniels, all managed to catch a fish.
The kids were very excited, and Marika immediately realized it was the perfect opportunity for a family photo.
She decided to seize the moment and had the toddlers all line up next to the pond to pose with their catches. It’s something every fisherman has done before — hold up their catches for the camera to not only memorialize the memory but also to create evidence to back up their fishing stories.
However, after Marika took the photo, she quickly realized that only two of the kids actually understood the concept. The two older kids, Levi and Liam, both proudly held up their fish just like the professionals would. However, 18-month-old Landon somehow ended up with his little fish in his mouth!
It is one of the most hilarious photos we’ve ever seen, but pretty much demonstrates perfectly what it’s like to be a kid.
At that age, the world is still so new and exciting, and essentially everything you do ends up being a learning experience. Landon had no idea you are not supposed to put the fish in your mouth. Whether he was hungry or just experimenting, we’re not sure, but it’s certainly incredibly funny.
After the mom shared the photo on Facebook, it immediately went viral, for obvious reasons.
People couldn’t stop talking about how cute it was. This eventually led to the family being invited onto Good Morning America to discuss the photo, and that’s where we learned something very interesting.
“When I saw it I was like, ‘Ugh, Landon.'” said Marika. “He’s just at that age where he puts everything in his mouth. They are rubber fish. They’re not real fish. After I saw the picture I said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is actually kind of funny’ — and apparently everyone else thought so too.”
It turns out, they weren’t actually real fish!
The museum’s fishing pond is actually stocked with a whole bunch of rubber aquatic species. Looking at the photo though, you would never have guessed it. However, rubber or not, it still presented a great learning moment for Marika to teach her toddlers about what you should and shouldn’t try to eat. Rubber fish are definitely not on the menu!
Now that the kids are Internet famous though, who knows what will come next in their exciting lives. Their goofy photo mishap has not only made them the talk of all their friends, but even other countries have taken notice. At this point, the photo is pretty much a meme and the funny image has been shared as far as India.
Other people have even started making their own versions of it too!
It’s pretty incredible how a simple photo can bring so much joy to thousands of people living all around the world.
See the original viral fishing photo meme shared on Marika’s Facebook below.
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