For a while, I have seen something that made me scratch my head and wonder. I wonder what parents think they are teaching their children about how money works and financial planning.
I was at Walmart and saw that they had set up a Lottery Ticket booth (where the kids’ coin-operated games had been), and I thought they didn’t have them at the checkout, where it slows everything down. Then I noticed a family there (Mom, Dad and two kids younger than ten years old), and the kids were asking their parents, “Can we scratch the card this time?”. Frankly, my first that was, WTF? What are these parents teaching these kids?
Fast forward to my trip to San Francisco, and on the plane, the family in front of me was another family (Mom, Dad, and three kids under the age of 10). The family were doing the same thing, and the kids were asking, “Can I play, can I scratch the tickets?”, again my gut reaction was WTF?
What exactly are these parents thinking of getting their kids interested in playing lotteries for? To kids, this is just a fun game to play. They don’t understand how much money gets wasted on lotteries. They see how much fun their parents seem to be having with these games.
Why start teaching kids about this so young?
- If you want to teach children a lesson about lottery tickets, teach them about the chances of winning and play games with the numbers.
- Have them understand the chances of winning this “game of chance.“
- Explain you can give it to charities directly instead.
Am I missing something here? It is illegal for kids under 18 to buy lottery tickets, so why would you teach them to play them?
When I was a kid, my parents wouldn’t let me and my brother participate in any gambling at all. At the time, I thought he was ridiculously old fashioned and I was very resentful. Now, I completely agree. Not only is it a really dumb thing to do with your money, but it seems to me gambling has an obscene quality to it. That there are kids scrounging through garbage in India, kids forced into prostitution in Thailand, mothers unable to breastfeed their babies due to malnourishment while some of us go to Vegas and toss away our money…. it turns my stomach. (do I have an opinion??)