Parenting Question

[Avniel]

These are good ideas, guys. Keep em coming! Avniel, and BigD, I like your ideas, especially from the male perspective.

One question I want to pose to you two though (Avniel and BigD) - do you see an issue with the fact that this offense was already dealt with? The money issue came to light today, but the offense that led to it was already revealed, dealt with, punishment handed out, and it was done with. I'm not sure I feel it's morally acceptable to "reopen" the case simply because we discovered a new detail (albeit, it was pretty shocking). Especially from the Christian perspective, because God doesn't "re-punish" us for the same offense.

Thoughts?

I think that's a tad bit different my punishment is kind of like an on the spot thing. I think an additional conversation about how that affects the family, what it could be used for and maybe volunteer work once a month not to punish but to teach how things affect others and care about the community. Other than that it would be redundant he's already been punished, even the judicial system doesn't do double jeopardy.

All that can be done is talk maybe some outside work as a skill building to think about how actions can affect a community.

But I see your point now.

 

[Inkachu]

Ak - our son is a seriously budding hacker. He's always been very computer-savvy, but when my husband came into the picture, it took on a whole new life. My husband is a computer GENIUS, he can build a computer from scrap parts and his passion is anything to do with technology, especially web hosting/design. So he opened up this whole, exciting new world to my son (with good intentions, don't get me wrong), but inadvertently also triggered this tech-crazed mindset in him. So now my son has learned how to bypass passwords and security measures, and we've had to become uber-vigilant about the security on all our devices (phones, tablets, etc). It's a case of having too much knowledge, too soon; my son doesn't have the maturity to handle his own capabilities. He finds himself tempted to sneak onto a computer or a phone and download games or videos or apps, and he doesn't have the willpower to resist. And in cases like my OP, his ignorance winds up costing his parents big time!

I talked to him when I got home tonight, and he said he had just been trying to find a way to download games onto my Kindle. It told him he needed an Amazon account, and a credit card for the free trial, so off he went. I mean, I'm glad he wasn't trying to buy expensive things or do anything terrible, but his naivety wound up costing US a lot of money. I'm planning to call Amazon today or tomorrow and explain what happened (I'm sure we're not the first parents to have a kid to pull this stunt) and see if they'll cancel the charges, but I don't know how likely it is that they will.

So, as you can see, my son would make a great computer tech one day lol. He just needs some serious growing up in the meantime.

 

[akmom]

If your conversation with Amazon doesn't pan out, you can encourage him to hack into their database and delete your bill!

(Kidding. Just kidding.)

 

[Hetta]

If your conversation with Amazon doesn't pan out, you can encourage him to hack into their database and delete your bill!

(Kidding. Just kidding.)

I love it.

 

[Inkachu]

Give him enough time and I don't doubt it LOL.

 

[CounselorForChrist]

Make sure whatever he does that he does not "Jailbreak" your mobile devices. You basically hack your device so you download the paid games, movies...etc illegally from the internet and play/watch them for free on your device. Because for example if I jailbreaked an Iphone it can still connect to online and Apple would find out and I'd be massive trouble.

Pretty sure you would not be happy with a removed account on the device an the fact you can never use the device online again. As for the punishment thing. I have no idea. Only kid I has was my cat and shes gone now. I agree with everyone else though. One of my parents friends have a teen and she racked up a $300 phone bill. And she had a bill on her gaming console.

They removed her from the phone account. Deleted her gaming account. Took her phone and console and sold it to help pay the money back. Needless to say the teen wasn't happy.