Mother defended for refusing to make son give up his raffle prize

‘A child having a tantrum about something not going their way is not your problem to solve’

A mother has been defended after she put her foot down when it came to her son and his raffle prizes.

In a recent Reddit post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” subreddit, the mother explained that she has two sons, one that is 16 years old named Robbie and another that is eight named Cameron. While the family was at an awards banquet for Robbie’s sports team, there was a raffle and she gave each of her sons a roll of tickets.

According to the Reddit user, Cameron only really wanted a Lego kit and a remote control car, so almost all of his tickets were split between the two items.

The mother explained that there was another boy at the banquet that was younger than Cameron and who consistently claimed that he was going to win the car. “Everyone would just smile and say ‘we’ll see!’” she wrote in her post.

When it came time to announce the raffle winners, Cameron ended up winning both of the items. “When the other little boy’s parents explained to their son he didn’t win, 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,” the post continued.

Other families sitting near them went on to suggest to Cameron that he should give away his remote control car to the other boy, a suggestion that he refused.

“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,” the mother wrote in her post.

According to the mother, more parents then came up to her and claimed that Cameron should have given up the car, using the excuse that he already won something. She explained to them that “this is how raffles work” and it should be viewed as a lesson for children that they won’t always win because events like raffles are based on luck.

“Keep in mind, I never heard from the parents of this child. I know the mom in passing as our older sons have hung out a couple of times but not that well,” the mother added.

“My husband wonders if we should’ve just encouraged Cameron to give it away,” the post concluded before asking what the commenters thought.

After posting, many people took to the comments to let the mother know that she did the right thing by not giving in to the boy’s tantrum.

“A child having a tantrum about something not going their way is not your problem to solve,” one comment began. “It’s absolutely ridiculous that other families 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 commenter agreed, writing: “Forcing your son to give up a prize he rightfully won fair and square just because some other kid was throwing a fit about it would’ve just taught him that he doesn’t get to keep his things if someone else wants them badly enough.

“Standing up for your son was the right move.”