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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A toddler's ingenious method for drinking juice from cartons has gone viral on Twitter.
Life hacks come in many shapes and sizes, with the internet awash with tricks and tips designed to make a big difference to the small things encountered every day. However, it's not every day that you come across a hack invented by a 2-year-old.
Protik Islam-Jakobsson told Newsweek he and his partner were initially confused when their daughter Juno began taking the paper straw out of her drinks cartons and placing it back inside the other way around.
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"We thought she did it by mistake or because she was confused," he explained. "But when we put the straw in the 'right' way for her she'd get annoyed and 'fix' it (putting it in upside down), saying, 'Not that way!'" He added: "Then she stopped letting us put the straw in for her, insisting on doing it herself her own way."
Islam-Jakobsson, a neurology resident at Umea University in Sweden, said that after about six months of Juno drinking juice in her own unique way, they decided to ask her the reasoning behind it. "She said it was 'better' because then she can 'get all the juice out,'" Islam-Jakobsson said.
Suitably impressed by her logic, the proud dad decided to share her discovery to Twitter, posting a diagram showing how it appeared to work. The post blew up, amassing over 40,000 retweets and 329,000 likes.
The response was largely positive. CHeartstrees thought Juno was "headed for a future of hydraulic fracturing" while styxferryman told Islam-Jakobsson: "Your daughter is a genius. If I ever end up with another juice box I'm crediting her work when people ask me why I'm so smart."
Johnnetteliving wrote: "I got my mom to try this today and she said it worked very well. Your kid deserves a Nobel Peace Prize." StanReinhardt, meanwhile, noted: "It's interesting how sometimes kids can excel in critical thinking. But as adults we tend to suppress their line of thought because to us it doesn't make sense."
CherinBlue1 thought the hack was "clever" with CSlimCasino writing "mind blown" in response to the discovery.
Of course, this being social media, plenty expressed skepticism over the toddler's methods. Acid_bath666 claimed the approach made "zero sense" and would actually result in the user pulling "less juice out of the box" than if they did it normally.
"When you install a sump pump in your basement you put the suction as close to the bottom as possible to get as much liquid out," they wrote. "Imagine laying the pump on its side and thinking you're being more efficient." Islam-Jakobsson replied: "Her juice boxes are empty and she seems to find it easier to do it her way with her teeny tiny clumsy toddler hands!"
JnrTaureen was similarly doubtful, writing: "That straw's tip will tilt upwards when it hits the bottom" with another user, clam_whamtly even sketching a picture of their own to demonstrate the potential issue. Islam-Jakobsson was nonplussed though, noting that it "seems to work for her this way" despite these claims to the contrary.
Speaking to Newsweek, he admitted to being slightly "bemused by the dudes who've been upset by both the tweet and the reactions, indicating that this approach is stupid, wasteful, or outright impossible."
"Perhaps it only works for toddlers, I don't know," he said. "She [Juno] says I should try it her way when I become a little kid again."
Ultimately, he doesn't see it in such clearly defined scientific terms. "The most notable benefit is that she gets the satisfaction of doing something she enjoys in her own way, a way that she seems to find easier," he explained.
"I just enjoy sharing her thoughts and observations and reflections on life, she's just such an incredible person to live with," he added. "It's been lovely seeing all the positive and funny responses—especially from people who say their kids do the same thing, and from people who've done it the same way since they were kids!"
Incredibly, this isn't the first time Islam-Jakobsson's daughter has dabbled in life hacks. She's also known for setting up stools and chairs around their apartment so "she can participate" in everything they do.
"She also thinks you should wear jackets backwards when you're in a stroller, so you can be protected from the wind and cold without your back getting uncomfortably hot," her dad said. "She seems to subscribe to the philosophy 'trust, but verify.' But her number one life hack is persistence."
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Correction 6/10/22, 8:58 a.m. EDT: This article was updated to correct the name of Protik Islam-Jakobsson's daughter to Juno.
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