This Mom Refused To Ask Her Son To Share His Raffle Prizes With A Child Who Didn't Win

The conversation around “sharing” has come up in recent years, after conscious and gentle parenting techniques have called for a shift in what it means to teach kids to share.

Some parenting experts opt for a different approach, encouraging kids to take turns and share a toy if/when they are ready to rather than pressure a child to share just because another kid wants what they have. This kind of makes sense. Do we just give up everything we have just because someone else wants it as adults? Not usually!

When one mom’s son won a couple of prizes at a raffle, she refused to let him give into outside pressures telling him to give up one of his prizes to a younger child who was throwing a fit over not winning.

Now, she’s asking the “Am I The A**hole?” Reddit thread if she was in the wrong for standing her ground.

“I have two sons: Robbie (16) and Cameron (8). Robbie had an awards banquet for his team, and the entire family went. Every year, they have a raffle with a bunch of prizes. I bought a roll of tickets for both sons and told them to put in for whatever. Cameron had two things he really wanted: a LEGO kit and a remote control car. He put basically all his tickets in for those,” she explained.

“There was another boy there, probably a little younger than Cameron, who was running around and saying that he was going to win the remote control car. Everyone would just smile and say ‘we’ll see!’”

When the raffle came, her son, Cameron, won the LEGO kit and the remote control car. That’s when the little boy went off the rails.

“He broke down in a huge tantrum where he was screaming and crying. His dad had to carry him out because he was causing a bit of a disturbance,” she wrote before explaining that other families at the table started to encourage Cameron to give the remote control car to the little boy having a fit. He refused.

She continued, “They looked at me for backup, and I said it’s his choice. I changed the subject. The little boy did return. He came by our table a couple of times but didn’t say anything. Just stared at the car, which I felt was fine.”

“Later, a friend of mine said a few others felt Cameron should’ve given the little boy the car as he already won something. I said this is just how raffles work and it’s a good lesson for kids. There are times my sons haven’t won things from raffles or similar events. They learned young it’s all up to luck.”

“My husband wonders if we should’ve just encouraged Cameron to give it away. AITA for saying no?”

Several Reddit users backed up the mom, reassuring her that she did the right thing in allowing her son to keep the prizes he won fair and square.

“A child having a tantrum about something not going their way is not your problem to solve,” one user wrote.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that other family made any such comment. You should’ve told them they are welcome to buy the kid something if they felt so strongly about vocalizing their opinion on it. Your kid got lucky, it would make no sense to punish him for it. If your child had a tantrum would you expect others to give him things because of it?”

Another echoed, “NTA at all. You win some, you lose some. That’s life, and an important lesson for the little boy to learn! He can be upset; that’s okay! It is a big letdown for a little kid. But giving him the toy wouldn’t be helping him in the long run.”

Exactly this! What is that little boy being taught if he throws a fit and ends up getting what he wants? I think we all know how those kinds of kids turn out when it comes to adulthood. *cough*Karens*cough*

Kids need to learn that they cannot always get their way!