Nathan was ordering something on Amazon not long ago and, in order to\u00a0receive free shipping, he had the “opportunity” to sign up for a membership.\u00a0 I don’t remember what the membership was for but it, too, was free…for a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He asked me if he could sign up for it because he wanted to save on shipping.\u00a0 Sure, I told him.\u00a0 But it would be his responsibility to make sure that he canceled the membership before the month was up.<\/p>\n
Now Nathan is a teenager and, by default, cannot be expected to remember to do these sorts of things.\u00a0 Part of me is kidding, but the other part is serious.\u00a0 I attended a meeting about the teenage brain where the presenter talked about how disorganized the teen brain at this age could be.\u00a0 Did I come home and share this information with my two teens.\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 They\u00a0would abuse that\u00a0bit of info well into their early twenties!<\/p>\n
But the reason I bring up the teenage brain is because, as organized as Nathan is (I’ve seen his written lists of things to\u00a0do), he had not had experience dealing with\u00a0canceling memberships in order to\u00a0avoid fees and this may be a bit much to expect of him.\u00a0 Me?\u00a0 I do this sort of thing a lot and, as Nathan’s guide, it was up to me to teach him how I do it.<\/p>\n
“Grab the calendar,”\u00a0 I told him.\u00a0 We have a family calendar and nobody takes their first breath in the morning until we’ve all taken a look at how the day is going to play out.\u00a0 We have a lot going on.<\/p>\n
“Okay.\u00a0 Now what?”\u00a0 he asked.<\/p>\n
“This is how you guarantee that you won’t be paying the membership fee.”\u00a0 I had him write down on the calendar when the membership expired and the details that went with it.\u00a0 He ended up writing it on the three days before it expired because, and I made this part very clear, he was responsible for paying the fee if he forgot.<\/p>\n
Last Friday was the first of the three\u00a0days he had written on the calendar.\u00a0 Friday evening I asked him about it.\u00a0 “Already done,” was his answer.<\/p>\n
Teach Nathan how to cancel memberships.\u00a0 Check.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nathan was ordering something on Amazon not long ago and, in order to\u00a0receive free shipping, he had the “opportunity” to sign up for a membership.\u00a0 I don’t remember what the membership was for but it, too, was free…for a month.\u00a0 He asked me if he could sign up for it because he wanted to save on shipping.\u00a0 Sure, I told him.\u00a0 But it would be his responsibility to make sure that he canceled the membership before the month was up….<\/p>\n