Parental Predicament

Question:

If I buy my 13 year old an iPod and he turns around and sells it on the playground, does that make me an accomplice in a black-market enterprise?
Does this not bode well for any future career not involving the movement of illegal goods?
Is he showing initiative in planning to upgrade, or stupidity in letting his plans slip out before he made the new purchase?
Can I trust him to walk his little brother to the park, or will he come back with a fistful of pesos?

Seriously, the dilemma I find myself on the horns of is this: who gets the money? I know it was a gift, but a) my feelings are hurt, and b) I could use that coin! And since he forgot about tax, doesn't he owe me a little extra?

I don't mind giving him the $ back after he's earned enough for the model he really wanted, but I don't want it wasted away on fritos and video games (kids these days...)

Any ideas, suggestions, helpful hints...?

The Freedom Writers

Freedom Writers Diary

... loved the movie, added the teacher Erin Gruwell to my Hero/Aspire To Be Like list, and the book makes the transformation and accomplishments of the kids even more remarkable...

so remarkable the cynic in me (always present, just at times more "vocal") started questioning the veracity of the stories... towards the end, every page seemed to have a too good to be true factor: this kid's going to Harvard, this one Columbia, this one football scholarship UCLA, this one drafted to play baseball... I don't know, I'll have to find out how much *creative* writing was involved...