Advice needed: I've just caught 7yo DS trying to use my credit card secretly to join bloody Club Penguin...

[scampadoodle]

He'd been nagging us to buy a membership but we said, firmly, No (none of his friends are members btw). Last night & this morning I found my purse in the study where my computer is, I challenged DS1 & he admitted that he was going to use the credit card to buy the membership. I was I am normally a shouty mummy but I was so upset by this that I stayed v calm & DS was v contrite - said sorry & hugged me. I told him how wrong it was & that I was v upset & didn't want to feel I couldn't trust him. TBH, i thought I wouldn't have to deal with this situation until he was a teenager.

So far the punishment is:
No more Club Penguin
He's not allowed to use my imac in the study.
When he uses his dad's old laptop it has to be with an adult present in the room.

I don't know if that's enough. I feel that morally, it's the tip of a very slippery slope. What do others think?

omg! my son is on club penguin - he told me it was free membership...have i been totally conned? Or is there such a thing as free membership?

Molly

The basic entry level, is free.

yes molly...it's only when they want to buy cool hair or sunglasses etc for their penguins that the money come into it!!!

Mind you...i did the 3 month subscription...and if you look at it on a weekly basis...its good value for money...and my son actually now phones friends to arrange meetups in different igloos!!!!

Mumsnut PMSL - DS's equally gormless and harmless penguin is currently holding an electric guitar and wears some sort of martial arts black belt. But he does indulge in cross-dressing...

Right am starting a new match attacks thread after lunch.

Went into to the Disney store today (Bluewater) only to be told they do not sell any sort of prepay memebership - only puffles (actual not virtual) and trading cards.

DD was v disappointed and I was confused - as was the staff member when I insisted I had been told they did by a very reliable source!

DD plays on club Penguin - You can still play club Penguin without having to pay any money. So why did he need your credit card?

Sorry Daffodill, I was away at the w/e. I think there are extra games & levels & stuff to do if you are a member.

I've reckoned up a basic spend on DS1: mag, CP, Gogos, Match Attax & will tell him that he has to budget it & once it's gone it's gone. Like if one week he wants gazillions of Match Attax then he can't have his MotD mag or CP.

I hate to see him 'waste' his savings on things like Gogos but I suppose I just have to let go, don't I?

I think that is a great way to do it Scamp, the theory is that they eventually ralise that they are wasting their money and could do so much more with it than spend it on Gogos - like spend it on alcohol and girls

But seriously, learning to budget is an important skill, having it written down so it can be tracked (and he cannot argue about the fact it has been spent!) is a good technique.