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We have rules of course, but rules as we know can be broken, and so can trust.
Temptation, peer pressure, and the good old teenage attitude of 'maybe I wont get caught' were all a factor in our incident, I am just thankful that we caught the issue before it got out of hand.
Our son thought he was doing nothing wrong by adding his bank details to a game he plays, so he could 'upgrade' to a higher level, and buy extra 'things' that would help him to complete the matches. Little did he know that just about every time he logged on, money was being taken out of his account.
Of course we had warned all of our children with the dangers of doing this countless times, we have explained that some people don't think anything of taking advantage of others and that a lot of sites are not secure and anyone could be skimming their details.
I thought that we had made ourselves very clear. I thought that we had reached a time in parenting when our children could come to us with anything, and that we had established a really good relationship based on trust.
I blame myself. Maybe I put far too much trust in my teenagers. Maybe I have become a lazy parent.
All his on-line devices have been removed from his possession, its like his throat is cut. He has also been grounded for the rest of this week.
I have vowed to be a more present mother when it comes to Internet use and my teen, we have to gain back the trust that I thought we had, and work together to repair the damage. It could have been a much worse situation I know, but thankfully it was bad enough to give him a scare and a wake up call.
I feel that he has learnt his lesson, he is a good boy that has never given us an ounce of trouble. He just made a choice that was wrong as far as choices go, and fell into a trap that so many others have also fallen into.
beck xx
Linking with Jess for the first IBOT of 2016
Gosh, I have this to look forward to when my girls are old enough to use the internet. It's scary what you teens can get up to. Glad your son learned his lesson and hope you can gain your trust again with his internet usage.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we will Bec, he really is a good boy. Xx
DeleteAww that must have been a hard lesson for him to learn Beck. Our eldest who is now 15, found himself in a similar predicament when he was about 13 when he kept charging songs/games etc to his iTunes account, which was accidentally still linked to our card! $250 later we finally noticed all of these small transactions (it was't until a big one flagged us) He lost his iPod at that stage for 6 months.. it was a massive trust issue, but he hasn't done anything since.. Its a big world out there for them isn't it..
ReplyDeleteSuch a big world and a big lesson learned. They just don't realise. Xx
DeleteSometimes lessons have to be learnt the hard way (I know as teen I needed to learn a few lessons myself). We can talk until the cows come home but often they don't listen or think it won't happen to me.
ReplyDeleteSo true, lessons can be hard but as long as he doesn't repeat it, all will be good x
DeleteOh dear! I bet losing the money was a bit of a wake-up call for him as well!
ReplyDeleteIt's so tempting for young people, the internet is. And we can't ever get too complacent. I need to remember that.
So right Jess, I guess I dropped the ball on this one. Thank goodness we got onto it before it was any worse x
DeleteThat's a big lesson for a young lad!
ReplyDeleteI have decided "wisdom" is not a boy child skill set. My 15yo has just had his iPod removed from him for a week because he was using it after lights out. We haven't given him internet access on that thing because ... wisdom is not his skill set yet. He's a good kid, but why make things all that much harder for him?
I totally agree with you Tracy, I let my guard down and as his parent I feel responsible to degree. The lesson has been a real eye opener
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