Hixson parents reflect on purchases by children through mobile apps

Texas 2-year-old recently bought over $60 of McDonald's on mom's phone

HIXSON, Tenn. (WDEF) — Cheeseburgers and Americans are a love affair that dates back to when our forefathers took that first juicy bite.

However, one young Texan toddler’s love with cheeseburgers caught both his mother, and her wallet, by surprise.

The story of the two-year-old’s mobile order has since gone national.

Like Kenan and Kel, little Barrett Golden just wanted a “good burger.”

However, unbeknownst to his mother, he took to her phone and ordered 31 of them.

This cost his mom, Kelsey Golden, $61.58 of fast food — plus a $16 tip from the toddler.

The entire order after fees came out to $91.70.

“He doesn’t understand anything,” Golden said. “I don’t even think he realizes he did it. He just does this with the phones.”

In Hixson, the Schulte family experienced something similar a couple of years ago.

Their two children, then 3 and 5, bought movies through Amazon Prime.

The kids got their Disney fix while parents Jenny and Frank got more credit card bills.

“We didn’t have a passcode to purchase things because we’d never had that problem before,” said mom, Jenny. “They know how to use the remotes [and] how to order things apparently just by doing the ‘ok,’ ‘ok.'”

For new parents and parents with young kids, Schulte advised them to just simply “supervise” their device activity.

Have certain apps locked down on mobile devices and have passcodes set in place to prevent unwanted access to emails and pictures.

From mother-to-mother, Schulte related to Golden, and says sometimes incidents such as Barrett’s McDonald’s order are just part of parenthood.

“It would suck,” Schulte said, laughing. “I’m sorry. It would not be great. But that’s kind of what happens with kids — just fun and interesting things. You’ve just got to move on with it and learn from it.”

As for Frank, he mirrored his wife’s message and said that at the end of the day, while there was a bill, there’s also a story to tell for years ahead as the family grows.

“First time my kids decided to order some movies, I saw the credit card bill and was, like, ‘Did we order this?'” Schulte said. “But then, later on, it’s something to laugh about for something relatively innocuous like that.”

He also said, as a parent, even though it’s important to watch your kids’ activity on mobile devices, it’s also important not to shelter them from it.

After all, it will eventually be part of their lives.

As for Golden family, at least Barrett only ordered 31 cheeseburgers … not 31 Big Macs.

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