DOES ALLOWING A TWO-YEAR-OLD TO GAMBLE MAKE ME A BAD MOM?

First of all, please don't report me to Children's Services, he's not playing poker and drinking booze in a smokey room! But, I did make the mistake recently of bribing him with a $1 treat for good behavior after a long trip at the grocery store. (Hey, you've gotta be creative with a toddler ;) After we checked out, Ben remember his treat, which I had forgotten. We had one more errand to run and I told him he could pick out something there. As we were heading towards the door, he shouted, "I want a watery ticket!" (Occasionally, I will buy a scratch off if I'm feeling lucky, so he's seen the machine before where you choose your own ticket by pushing a button.) I reminded him that he could pick out something at the next store, but he insisted again, "I want a watery ticket, mom!"

Tired from shopping, I caved. This was not a battle I cared to fight. I put the money in and he chose a "Lucky Dog" ticket. He proudly held onto it so tightly as we walked out to the car and loaded up the groceries. I had to show him how to scratch off the ticket and it took him about five minutes to sort of scratch off all the numbers. When we got to Target, I asked him to show me his lottery ticket. To my surprise, he had won $10! "You won ten bucks," I excitedly told him. He was so thrilled, even though I don't think he really knew what that meant just yet. However, when I told him he could pick out a toy because he had won some "bucks" with his lottery ticket and he ended up with several cars, I think he caught on kind of quick...

So now, instead of candy or some junky plastic toy that kids normally beg for as a treat for good behavior, my son wants a "watery" ticket (I correct him every time, but he just can't say his L's very good :). The crazy thing is, yesterday was the first time he didn't win something! He couldn't really understand the concept of not winning "bucks" from that little piece of paper! I tried to explain to him that you don't win every time, but good luck explaining the laws of chance to a two-year-old!

I'm not sure if this is such a great habit to have started, especially at such a young age! It does seem to work really well as far as his behavior is concerned!! He's usually pretty good in hopes of getting his lottery ticket at the end of our trip! Growing up, my grandma would give us cards with lottery tickets in them all the time as a little gift for small holidays and stuff like that. It seemed completely normal to us! I'm sure we've gotten a few disapproving looks from other shoppers, but you can't please everyone in this world! I hope that it doesn't make me a bad mom, but I will argue that rewarding your kid a sugary treat that contains strange food coloring like red lake #5 and high fructose corn syrup can't be much better, right? Plus, he doesn't always get to spend his earnings on toys. I save the tickets and cash them in all together, then put most of the earnings in his piggy bank. At least he won't end up with cavities and possibly a weight problem! Go ahead, judge away!!!