Snoopy's Million Dollar Business Plan

Today I received two receipts from the iTunes store.  I nearly choked when I opened them and realized that one of my children had made $247 worth of purchases in the Snoopy's Street Fair app by a developer called Beeline.  The first thought was, "This is going to kill us."  My second thought was, "This is going to make a really funny story."  My third thought was, "I need to find a defibrillator quickly because Terri is going to have a heart attack, and someone's going to need to resuscitate her."  No joke, she was beet red when I told her and looked as faint as a civil war era debutante on a hot day.

The breakdown of purchases blew my mind:  one Snoopy Dollar Money Clip ($4.99), one Snoopy Dollar Money bag ($24.99), and two Snoopy Dollar Trunks ($99.99 each).  My first thought was, "People spend real money to buy fake money to buy virtual visits to Lucy's psychiatric booth?"  My second thought was, "What kind of kids app would allow you to buy something in-app for $99?!?"  My third thought was, "Has Snoopy written a book on business, because I need to read that junk if he's pulling down that type of cash from children under 10?"

I sat down across from the kids and explained what had happened, convinced that Calvin (age 6) was the offender since he is 4he most infatuated with video games.  I explained how I opened up the receipt email. I described how much money the in-app purchases cost.  I listed off all the things that we could have bought with that money:  a new iPod touch, an Xbox Kinect, two hundred other much more fun apps that only cost $.99 each.  As I really pounded this home to make my point, a funny thing happened.  Calvin held on to his semi-cheerful expression, as if what I was saying was all new to him.  But Trinity (age 7)...Trinity's face began to drop as her mouth turned down into a deep frown.  Her eyes got big and glassy.  She looked up at me and said, "If say I did it will you promise not to be mad at me?"

"I won't be mad at you," I said.

She cracked and folded into that pinched up cry-face and said, "It was me!!!"  Then she immediately broke down in tears.  My first thought was, "This is too cute, but don't smile because it will hurt her feelings even more."  My second thought was, "I need to make sure she doesn't feel like I am angry with her for something she didn't do on purpose."  My third thought was, "Two hundred dollars might be a small price to pay for the opportunity to hold my little girl in my lap and comfort her like this."

But I'm still working on my refund...