Summer has a way of turning children into mini-capitalists, transforming steamy temperatures into cold hard cash, one glass of lemonade at a time.

But one Hueytown eight-year-old’s business got the attention of the Alabama Department of Labor after his mom offered an apprenticeship.

Cameron Johnson and his mom Cristal began “Cam’s Lemonade” last year, originally as a lesson for Cam on the value of money and hard work. Cam, “a typical” child according to Cristal, kept asking for money, as youngsters will.

“One day he asked to go to Disney World,” she remembered. “I was just kind of joking around with him, telling him, ‘Let me teach you how to earn a buck since you think money grows on trees.’”

Cam and Cristal put a lemonade stand at a yard sale, and helped out by social media, the idea took off. Cristal began making the lemonade, and Cam continued to sell it at home and at events.

The mother-son duo had enough success that “Cam’s Lemonade” is about to find its way to store shelves in stores in Jefferson and Walker counties by the end of next month in 10 flavors.

Cam said the lemonade stand is a way to “have fun” with his mother.

“It’s taught me how to save money,” he said.

But when Cam’s Lemonade advertised a one-day apprenticeship program, the business was reported to the Alabama Department of Labor.

According to Cristal, the idea was for a child from ages six to 10 to sign up for positions of “smiler” and “greeter.” To apply, interested children had to share a resume with what “they want to be when they grow up and why.”

“I came up with this idea to get a couple of kids in and do the same thing I did with my son,” she said. “He’s a little shy, and sometimes he stumbles with giving change, so I thought it would be a good idea to help some kids with confidence, self-esteem, math skills.”

This resulted in a report from an unidentified person. On Facebook, Cristal wrote:

“I was reported to the Department of Labor for hiring minors!!! Some miserable soul thought it be a good idea to have it shut down, so with that being said.. the child event I was trying to have is cancelled!! I think it is disgusting, hateful, and downright sad for a person to find negative in what I was trying to accomplish! 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!”

A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Labor said it does not “stop lemonade stands, and we never have.”

However, the complaint dealt not with the lemonade stand, but with the apprentice program.

“This is an LLC with professional transportation and distribution,” the spokesperson said. “Kids that age can volunteer for their church or other non-profit, but a 6-year-old cannot work for a for-profit business. She is free to employ her child at her lemonade business, but no other children under the age of 14. The business has faced no penalties and was not threatened with any penalties.”

Johnson said “it was never about working – it was about trying to help” other children. However the complaint was intended, she said, it has only succeeded in more business for Cam.

“Whoever it was who reported me, they’re probably disgusted because it’s had the opposite effect,” she said.