![]() While discussing possibilities with my friendly Amex Rep, I heard Jane, in an extremely loud and uncharacteristic voice, say the following: ![]() The customer service agent returned and agreed that if I didn’t make the purchases, which due to their repetitive nature and increasing value, things did look suspicious. Still on hold, I asked Jane to call Nathan, just to check if he had downloaded anything. In two years I never found anything of concern and slowly reduced how often I checked in. I would occasionally check his device to see what he’d been doing. He hadn’t abused this trust since we purchased the iPod Touch for him two years prior. Whether an app was free or cost money, he had to ask. We had a deal with him: if he wanted to download anything – anything at all – he had to ask permission. While on hold, I remembered – I had connected our oldest son’s iPod Touch to my American Express account. I immediately thought my card had been compromised, so I did what anyone would do – I called American Express. “In the interest of full disclosure, I was relieved that it wasn’t me who was in trouble.” – Dr. Finally, toward the end of June, someone had charged several items costing $54.49. We looked at the bill together – countless charges of $1.08…$5.44…then $10.89…then $21.79. Refraining from any purchases through iTunes, I had spent a great deal of time listening to music on YouTube. I knew I hadn’t spent any money on music in June. “You spent over $850 on iTunes last month! You said you’d stop!”Īt this point, I knew something was off. I was working in the kitchen when I heard Jane yell for me in the family room. As much as we love our boys, we were enjoying a bit of quiet. We return to July and a child-free house. I promised Jane I would avoid any further purchases for the rest of the summer. Not checking to see if I had actually splurged that much on music purchases was my FIRST MISTAKE. I mistakenly just assumed I had somehow lost track and overspent. I do tend to spend quite a bit on music through iTunes, particularly in the summer when I am planning my year – though $300 is pretty high for one month. ![]() My wife, who handles our finances, pointed this out and asked me to curtail my spending. Now…my May American Express bill had been a bit high – it reflected about $300 in purchases from iTunes. Our boys were almost 300 miles away visiting their grandparents. We live in Western Pennsylvania and my wife’s parents live on the Eastern side of the state. Buckle up…it’s going to be a bit bumpy at the outset. But in the end, we turned our mistake into an opportunity to teach our oldest a valuable lesson. This story is about one of the times we messed up…pretty badly. In our quest to make the best parenting choices, I’d like to think we’ve done pretty well – most of the time. They are the twin joys of our life together. We have two boys – a 14 year old and a 10 year old.
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