Your children are on their mobiles and playing their games. This is normal right? It is normal too that your kids want to get whatever gems and things in the games, right? But what would you do of your kid spends Php100K on their mobile game?
Meet the parents that were in this very situation.
What you will read:
- How a child locked out her mother out of her own phone for 48 years
- Unhealthy screen time for kids
- Kid drains mom’s account to spend for a game
“I noticed there were some deductions…”
So how does this even happen? Us as parents are very watchful over our children, but even the most watchful sometimes slip. Nothing wrong with that, there are a lot of things that we need to take care of in our every day lives.
This happened with Mommy Grace Locsin who has her own virtual assistant consultancy. Her cute 8 year old son Tice, accidentally racked up a bill of nearly Php100K! She has kindly gave us an interview to shed light on what happened and what she and her husband learned with this experience.
What alerted you and your husband to the costs?
I was going through of bank statement so I can send it to our finance department for our bookkeeping and accounting. I noticed that there were some deductions that day from one of our accounts and when I looked closer it was not family or business-related and was able to track it from my husband’s phone which my son, Tice was using. 🙂
The most understanding parents.
What rules do you have about screen time?
We allow them 1-2 hours, Monday to Friday tech time only with the apps we approve and these are Super Book, Messenger for Kids (their cousins are in the US), and War Robots (for Tice). Sovi doesn’t like War Robots but he has drums and piano learning apps instead.
Have you been able to recoup the expenses? As of writing, not yet.
How did you reprimand your son?
My initial reaction was being mad. I called them out right away and asked them. At first, he reasoned out that he upgraded because the first version was too easy for him. When my husband arrived and talked to them more, he explained crying that he did not know it costs something. He thought it was all free.
READ MORE:
Study: Too much screen time leads to underdeveloped language and literacy skills
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Zoom games for kids: A new way to help your child’s social development
The cute Locsin brothers
Have you since put alternatives in place for screen time or no?
Yes, there are home schooled so they have a routine. During their free time, they also play with their toys, ride bikes, and read.
What are the lessons you learned from this as a family?
It’s different for us and the kids. For them, we emphasized the importance of following rules and what are the consequences when there is disobedience. For us as parents, esp. for me the lesson on being patient and not jumping to conclusions right away. Not to react but to respond. Not to allow my biases on what I think happened. But having the patience to check facts first. To allow our kids to explain, to focus on the wrongdoing and not on the costs, and that no amount of money in the world should be the measure of love for our kids.
What lessons do you want your kids to learn from this experience?
We want them to see the importance of why there are rules and guidelines, especially that they are going to be men, leaders when they grow up.
We need to give our kids guidelines about using gadgets.
Based on this experience, what is your advice to parents and how to handle it?
To see their eyes in LOVE still despite being in the highs of emotions when an incident happens. To learn to be patient and focus on correcting the mistake out of love not out of frustrations. 🙂
If you could go back in time, what do you think you would’ve done differently?
We would have set up Google Play properly before giving the phone. Like setting up passwords for purchases.
Moral of the Story
We can all learn from Mommy Grace’s story and keep an eye on what our kids are doing while on their mobile devices. This can also be used to open up a conversation with our children about financial responsibility and the value of money. Another way to learn from a scenario like this is to start a conversation about trust, about how your children can ask permission from you and to open up a conversation with you. Kids will be kids, and we as parents are there to help guide them through the world.
If you want to learn more about Mommy Grace’s work, click here for her Facebook page. And if you want to follow the adventures, or misadventures of her two boys, click here.Â
Do you know how our mobile use affect our brains? Click here to read and find out.
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