Child stole over $3k

[Anonymous]

I would take away every single device, not let him go anywhere unsupervised anymore (no friends houses etc) and he wouldn’t get them back until he’s at least 18 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 9 year old stole over $3k on online gaming purchases. He stole my husband and I’s password in order to make purchases and I’m just exhausted/defeated. He didn’t stop because it was wrong, he stopped because there was no money left/was getting declined. I have a newborn baby less than 6 weeks old that relies on formula and we can’t even get that because this kid who’s not that little (fully understood what he was doing), decided three thousand dollars worth of fortnite skins was more important. This is not the first time either! We changed our password and he stole it and money again. What do you do in this situation?

After the first time you remove the games. DUH. WTF.

[Anonymous]

I would also take away all gaming privileges, period, devices, implement serious passwords on everything, so he does not have access to the internet. If you have alexa or siri or something like that....disable his access to the account. I know kids can be sneaky, but there are programs that you can enable really strong passwords and other ways to completely lock them out.

Depending on his response to all of this and if he is feeling remorseful, how he will repair, ect.....I might explore some counseling to see if there's something else going on there. Maybe some individual with some family counseling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remove ALL access to the internet. Cold turkey. Phones, tablets, computers, gaming systems. He can play with legos and magnatiles until he earns the family trust back.

+1 but I wouldn't even allow the "earn it back" period to start for years.

[Anonymous]

Military boarding school

[Anonymous]

Serious spanking among other punishments - Asian dad

[Anonymous]

You take away the devices. You delete all the apps, you cancel the accounts, you remove payment methods...I get that you're addled by a newborn and lack of sleep. I've been there. But this is not that complicated.

[Anonymous]

I feel like this has to be a troll, on second look. Who is careless enough to let their child apparently access their only source of funds if they're too broke to buy formula?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this has to be a troll, on second look. Who is careless enough to let their child apparently access their only source of funds if they're too broke to buy formula?

Maybe someone who is stressed out, distracted and exhausted with a 6 week old baby? Not excusing it, but it's not exactly uncommon for older kids to go a little more free-range when a new baby enters the picture.

[Anonymous]

Definitely a trailer trash troll

[Anonymous]

no access to online gaming with a pay component.

I have a 12 year old and a 9 year old and I have never allowed this. both boys no roblox, no fortnite, not even prodigy. They play whatever Minecraft they can in 30 minutes a day with no buying. They have really normal lives, great grades, they read a lot, friends (mostly friends with similarly strict parents).

You are literally handing your kids an addiction and then asking them to manage it themselves. they CAN'T DO IT. they are too young. This is completely equivalent behavior to a drug addict spending every last dollar to get a fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to immediately contact Epic Games, explain that the purchases were unauthorized, and request a refund.

Obviously, your child needs a serious consequence, including shutting down the Fortnite account. But your kid does not understand what $3,000 is or how it would impact family safety/security.

Agree with this. He probably doesn't completely understand the gravity of what he did. But he should absolutely not have access to a computer unmonitored anymore and he definitely shouldn't still have gaming accounts. You and your husband also need to lock down your passwords better.

What? You're not raising your kids right if they get to 9 years old and don't realize that stealing is not OK. If this happened over a period of time, they kid might not have counted how much money left the account, but the mere concept of paying money for something online only with parent authorization should have been ingrained a long time ago.

From OP's description, it really sounds as if her oldest is missing a huge chunk of ethics they should already master. This concerns me. The kid seems almost sociopathic, in that he doesn't care who he hurts or what the consequences are. Maybe a psychological evaluation is in order.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no access to online gaming with a pay component.

I have a 12 year old and a 9 year old and I have never allowed this. both boys no roblox, no fortnite, not even prodigy. They play whatever Minecraft they can in 30 minutes a day with no buying. They have really normal lives, great grades, they read a lot, friends (mostly friends with similarly strict parents).

You are literally handing your kids an addiction and then asking them to manage it themselves. they CAN'T DO IT. they are too young. This is completely equivalent behavior to a drug addict spending every last dollar to get a fix.

stupid analogy

[Anonymous]

Rookie numbers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to immediately contact Epic Games, explain that the purchases were unauthorized, and request a refund.

Obviously, your child needs a serious consequence, including shutting down the Fortnite account. But your kid does not understand what $3,000 is or how it would impact family safety/security.

This. Contact the company.

It's time to cut your kid off from the games OP. He is so young that he doesn't really understand what he is doing.

You may also want to make a point: we can't go to the movies because you already spent that money, we can't get takeout because you already spent that money, we can't get snacks, because you already spent that money. It will take him a while to understand.