Have you ever tried Zombie Skittles? You may have seen them around this time of year with Halloween around the corner. They’re like regular Skittle with one big twist. Alongside the usual yummy fruity flavors, there is at least one Skittle in each package that tastes horrible. Zombie Skittles are fun for games of candy roulette, but if you’re not expecting the taste of garbage, it’s a horrifying experience. The package has a little warning that says, “Most taste delicious but some taste like rotten zombies, dare to try!” However, one mom overlooked it when she bought a package of fun-sized bags for her kids. And her kids were not happy with this kind of candy.

Mom Gives Her Kids Zombie Skittles

Emily Massingill received 32 thousand comments and 89 thousand shares on her Facebook post. She wrote, “If you’re feeling like a bad mom today, don’t worry — I fed these Skittles to my kids for a solid month not realizing there is one skittle in there that tastes like rotting flesh or 54 dirty diapers in the garbage.” She had tried the Skittles herself but only tasted the yummy ones.

“They kept telling me they didn’t like the skittles, and I told them to either eat them or they wouldn’t get any more candy ever again if they’re gonna be ungrateful.” After her post went viral, she received a lot of flack so she wrote an update to better explain the situation. “Editing to add now this has blown up which is insane to me: I don’t give my kids candy EVERYDAY. But for a month, when they did get candy, this is what they got. They only went through about 6 packs or so.

“Also, for all of you who say I’m a horrible parent and ruining my children’s lives, my Venmo is @emilymichellephotos if you wanna contribute to their therapy fund for later in life. They’ll need the best due to this incident, I assure you. Later on, she added, “Edit edit; ‘wHy WoUlD yOu MaKe YoUr KiDs EaT sOmEtHiNg tHeY dOnT LiKe?’ It’s Skittles not horseradish, sit down, and listen to yourself. The ones I ate were fine, unfortunately for my kids.” [1]

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The Divided Responses

While many people related to the “parenting fail,” some went on to accuse her of force-feeding her kids gross candy every day or otherwise shamed her for not being a perfect mom. “Poor kid will have Skittles PTSD later in life. Her traumatized face is cracking me up,” one parent wrote alongside some laughing emojis. “This is awesome!! One day your kids will look back on this and laugh with you so hard. And hey… maybe they won’t want candy anymore?!” another user said.

“Best game of Russian roulette ever. My son ate them and he is fine, [he would just] spit out the nasty ones,” wrote a parent. This is probably the ideal use of these Zombie Skittles. “I’m laughing so hard! I can’t believe people actually took the time to attack you as a mom. We have all done funny little things that scar our kids for life… just as our parents did us. Lighten up people!!!” another parent wrote.

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However, not everyone was laughing…

“Poor kiddos. This is why parents should listen more when they say that they don’t like something,” said one user. “You giving your kids a couple [of] small pieces (like Skittles) every day isn’t the problem,” said another disapproving user.

“The problem is you want to assume your kids were being difficult and ungrateful. You need to treat your kids with respect and listen to them when they say they don’t like something. Your response SHOULD have been, ‘Oh, no. Well we can try a different candy then,’ not, ‘I just assumed first-thing that they’re being ungrateful.’” [2]

But What Do They Taste Like?

Either way, it’s important to note that nobody has the full story aside from Massingill and her kids. It’s not unusual for mothers to receive heat online for their parenting decisions, and it’s safe to assume Massingill was aware of her mistake. An overall learning experience for everyone. Her kids may never eat Skittles again, but that’s probably a good thing. Even so, there are many other candies for them to enjoy without a zombie-tasting one in the mix.

There was also a section of the comments that had nothing to do with Massingill’s parenting. These people were dead curious about what Zombie Skittles tasted like. After all, how bad could they be? According to Massingill and her kids, maybe don’t try them.

Want to Try Some Zombie Skittles?

Unfortunately, it looks like Zombie Skittles won’t be available for the 2021 Halloween year, but there is a fun replacement. Enter Skittles Shriekers. Much like their Zombie counterpart, there is a hidden skittle with an intense taste. Apparently, they are so sour they will make you shriek!

Editor’s Note (05/17/2023): This article was originally published on October 27, 2021, and has recently been updated.

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