The resident teenager is an avid computer gamer, and a sports enthusiast. It’s a good balance I think. However we do come across problems with the computer gaming from time to time. There is the obvious concerns with cyber bullying. And also making sure the games she plays are age appropriate. Planning ahead and money management wasn’t a problem we expected in-app purchases to pose. It was a problem that truly reflected the differences in the generations and what each age group values. Or perhaps understands to be OF value.

In-app purchases will induce a slightly stressful sigh of recognition from those who ended up paying for an in-app purchase they’re weren’t aware of. But time and time again it kept coming up. Either in me losing the plot with said resident teenager when I checked my credit card bill, or having to explain to her for the millionth time that Mum and Dad do not understand why we’d empty our wallets out for the purchase of virtual treasure.

Those that make a living out of in-app purchases, I’m sure I’ll never meet you. I suspect you’re hiding somewhere in a remote location where  angry parents and guardians can’t get you. But go ahead, don’t hold back on my account and scull that banana dacquarie or whatever it is you fancy. Perhaps there are worse ways one could make their money.

Being the practical sort, I decided we needed a plan. I didn’t want to be a complete kill-joy, but be blowed if I was going to spend a small fortune on nothing. It is nothing when you think about it. Once you buy those treasures or points, its only useful in that particular computer game. It’s not real. That’s the key to it – to my generation, the virtual world is not real, yet our digital aged generation see this as an extension of themselves.

How was I going to make sure the household wallet wasn’t attacked repeatedly, yet not kill the fun for the teen? Yes, it’s very easy to make sure in-app purchases was turned off in computer games, but it wasn’t going to help my daughter understand what we valued as parents. Nor would it solve the core problem here: the value of planning ahead, rather than acting on impulse. The key to good money management is planning ahead.

And the solution was?

Really simple, dead easy and best of all, it was low-tech.  I also inadvertently taught my daughter something about money management along the way. Armed with a blank piece of paper and a biro, I set up a basic ledger (those Pitmans book keeping lessons were worth it) and set a modest budget that she was allowed to spend for the whole calendar year on computer gaming. The rules were: the resident teenager had to ask before spending (we could make sure she wasn’t purchasing an R-rated game for example). Sure, she could make in-app purchases, but that would most definitely come off the budget for the year.

You guessed it, the budget was spent within six-months. The resident teen learned some pretty good negotiation skills, but none of them persuaded me to change the budget. Once it was gone, it was gone and she’d just have to learn to live with it. And she did learn to live with it. Over time, she became accustomed to not having those in-app purchases, and got on with whatever game it was at the time.

But when the year was up and the budget was due to be set again, she didn’t miss a beat. She had already worked out which game she wanted. She had her pitch all planned, explaining why we should let her have the game. But most of all, I can see her planning ahead so she can enjoy her computer gaming.

For what it’s worth, the resident teen is starting to see the worth of in-app purchases. That is, they really don’t have a tangible value to anyone but those who design them: banana dacquarie in hand or no.