Take Responsibility for Your Children’s Online Activities

This week I had the occasion to have a back-n-forth via e-mail with a mother who no matter what I typed, would not take responsibility for her child’s actions online.

Her son had ordered one of my eBooks. He asked to use her credit card and she allowed him to. But that’s not where there was a the problem.

The problem is that the “child” (a 16 year old) didn’t realize he was ordering a downloadable only eBook. Even though above the “Add to Cart” button in bold red letters was DOWNLOADABLE ONLY PRODUCT and the word “eBooK” was mentioned 7 times in the description of the product.

Now that they had purchased the eBook, the child didn’t know what to do and “thought he would get something in the mail.” When I explained it was an eBook, and that my site was very clear about that, I was told:

“My son wrote you and did this his self he is 16 years old and was probably unaware to read the lines that most adults would read.”

The line he was to read was the very first, top of the page — couldn’t miss it in bold type.

“This is not a hard-copy book. This eBook is a digital product available for your download upon completion of your purchase. If you want a hard-copy, simply print it on your computer.

When this was pointed out, her reply:

My son does everything on impulse and never reads anythig./blockquote>

So this is my fault? What are you doing giving your credit card to a 16 year old that isn’t adult enough to read before giving out that sensitive information?!

Parental units need to be aware of what their children are doing online — especially with their credit cards. And, when their children purchase things they don’t know what to do with because they didn’t read, don’t make it the retailer’s problem with the type of excuses mentioned here. (You also will be taken more seriously if you use proper grammar and spell check too.)

How can you blame the Internet when you are not even monitoring or checking your child’s activities? Ignorance is no excuse when you are a parent. It is ultimately the parent’s responsibility if their children do things without understanding online. The buck stops with you and your child.

That is why it is best that all computers be in an open area of the house where parent’s can keep an eye on their children’s activities and be there to answer questions if needed.

Every parent should read my article Cyber Parenting 101 – and parent!

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