A "Hungry" 6-Year-Old Ordered $1,000 in Takeout Pizza, Hot Dogs, Chili Cheese Fries, Jumbo Shrimp, and Ice Cream
His parents made him paid some of it back.
Most parents are accustomed to handing their phones over to children in times of need. Maybe you are at a restaurant and your child is bored. Or perhaps you are trying to get some work done or just simply need them distracted for a short time. Unfortunately, when kids get ahold of your technology, even for a short time person, damage can be done. For example, they might text or call someone, upload an embarrassing video, delete one of your apps, or take a million photos or videos. Or, like one father learned the hard way, they might order $1,000 worth of food.
Keith Stonehouse, a Chesterfield, Michigan father, handed his 6-year-old son his phone so he could play some games. However, when he wasn't looking, the child placed orders for food at various restaurants, running up a $1,000 tab.
On a Saturday night, Keith started receiving multiple text messages from Grubhub, reading "Your order is being prepared" and "Your order has been delivered" from several local restaurants. However, he never ordered any food. It was his son, Mason.
"Why did you do this?" Stonehouse asked his son, who hid under his comforter, per The Washington Post. "I don't know," Mason replied. "I was hungry." While his father was lecturing him he continued asking where his pizza was.
However, the pizzas never arrived because Stonehouse's bank declined the $439 order and deemed it fraudulent. "I had to keep stepping out of [his] room and calming myself down," Stonehouse said. "You want to yell at your son, but he's only 6."
The next day when his wife was home, they had the "real talk" with Mason, explaining to him that he had essentially stolen and needed to pay for some of the hot dogs, chili cheese fries, jumbo shrimps, and ice cream with the $150 he had in his piggy bank."We showed him one-by-one," Stonehouse said. "He was a little devastated but he understood."
The food hasn't gone to waste, and the family, as well as neighbors, have been eating it for days. However, there is one person who wasn't allowed to feast on it: Mason. "We didn't want to glorify this to him," Stonehouse said. "This is not a funny thing."
Mason is learning how to deal with the repercussion of his actions. "Do I have to start [my piggy bank] all over again?" he recently asked his father. "Yes, Mason," his father answered. "Sometimes in life when you make a mistake you have to start all over."
