Comments on: How Not to Teach Children about Gambling

By: Lori

Lori — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:48:18 +0000

Har! My husband is actually “good” at these things. Wins something every time he goes at ‘em. The last time we were at IHOP we watched the vending repair man refill the machine, packing the animals down. My husband walked up to it, deposited 50 cents, moved the claw, picked up an animal and walked away. I thought the repair man would trip over his jaw sitting on the floor.

This doesn’t bode well for us as parents …

By: csb

csb — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:18:27 +0000

You’ll never stop gambling… it’s literally impossible to ‘teach’ anyone about how not to gamble.. sure there are those who stop gambling through the insights learned while losing vast sums of money… but it’s like smoking, drugs and many other obsessions that cannot be governed by example or any laws.

I’d say that these are appropriate responses, for sure for growing children. It’s funny though, my parents taught me and my brother how to gamble, Poker, before we were 13… with real money! I’m a very good Poker Player… but I sure know how not to gamble from years of losing but never losing too much…

I’d say the most deadly thing of all to children these days is television. That Box is really troubling. I know that if I did have a child, I’d be very, very careful to censor just about everything on it. Just the News alone is unhealthy in the extreme…

I can’t tell you how disgusted I am by it’s inflection… It literally offends me… Not the People upon it but the undercurrent that is within it. I only watch movies (Netflix) etc. I cancelled my Satellite Television hookup some time ago and the only time I see it is when I go out to the kitchen to prepare a meal, where my Dad has it on. I listen to it talk, But it says nothing to me. A Politician isn’t going to improve my life any I assure you. My life is nothing that this Government has in mind. This I learned on America’s actual streets some time ago, where there isn’t anything to hold onto.

It’s a shame, in a nation such as ours that so much that is agreed to often becomes a right of way.

–Very fine Website by the way.

By: Kirra

Kirra — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:40:29 +0000

Yes, my brother got stuck with one of the chocolate machines like this.

His daughter wanted to spend her money on it and he was telling her it was a waste of time. Not only did you have to pick up the chocolates with the claw and get to the prize chute but anything picked up was dropped onto a prize shelf with a continuously moving arm that then pushed the chocolates (and any from people before that hadn’t gone off the shelf) off the shelf into the prize shute.You could pick up chocolates but still not get any to get off the shelf.

Eventually he gave in because it was her money and thought she would learn a lesson. It backfired when she managed to get the chocolates she picked up to cause an avalanche of the existing chocolates on the shelf.

She walked away with an arm full of chocolates, worth about $5 or $6, for her $1 invested.

By: Ari

Ari — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:38:06 +0000

Have you seen those other ‘gambling’ type video games set up at malls lately? It’s a game where you progressively play the machine (it’s a timing game, where you hit the buzzer as the light moves into a certain area) and if you reach the top level, you “win” a Wii.
I think they’re horrible! They’re strategically set up at malls and make people think.. hmm… maybe i can ‘win’ a $300 toy for $5 if I play this game.. huh?? huh?? bad bad bad!

Just found your site and i do love it, btw.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:48:08 +0000

I’ve never been one to play any of those machines, or even try to win carnival type games. i think it’s a waste of money, and usually the prizes are so cheap anyway.
My husband on the otherhand insists on winning stuffed animals for our daughters… and then complains that they have too many. figure that one out!!!!!!

By: My Boaz's Ruth

My Boaz's Ruth — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:09:27 +0000

As I recall, growing up, my parents would never put money in any of those machines (the vending machines or the video games or the claw). When we had our own money, we could spend it (almost) any way we liked (there were still things “off limits”)

By: Bitsy

Bitsy — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:15:10 +0000

Ahhhhh… claw machines. The best is when the claw grabs a toy by the tiniest thread–maybe just barely hooking the toy’s label on one of its metal fingers–and everyone holds their breath to see if the toy will make it to the prize chute…

By: William

William — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:10:50 +0000

Thanks for the link. We had a run-in with a claw machine at Friendlys, which is why I wanted to start my list.

By: nrbp

nrbp — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:22:52 +0000

And now you’ve got a pair of confirmed gamblers on your hands…

By: Kym

Kym — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:05:15 +0000

You got bit by karma. It always happens to me, too. I remember my engineer husband and I explaining to our sons that the law of averages works with coin tosses— eventually they would both get equal goodies….After my older son won every coin toss for a year, we threw in the towel and alternated turns. Sometimes the universe takes a perverse pleasure in stomping on parents.