The advertising industry is attempting self-policing in the wake of concerns about hidden marketing in apps for kids' games.

The Washington Post  reports the industry's own Children’s Advertising Review Unit has taken on IHOP for undisclosed ad content in an online game centered around the Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax.

Meanwhile, in-game app charges on kids' games have again become a real problem for parents. It's not uncommon for parents to find their checking accounts or credit cards dinged for anywhere from $5 to $100 each time their children play "free" games.

Here's what's going on: In the course of game play, a child might click on a "snowflake" or "Smurfberry," just to give two examples, and that action would register a charge on a parent's iTunes account.

My executive producer Christa and I handle this problem in different ways. My kids know they are to never buy any optional add-ons to any freemium app.

Christa, on the other hand, reasons through the problem like this: She says she could buy a board  game for around $10 or a PlayStation game for much more money. So if her kid wants a $2 educational game like Stack the States, for example, she doesn't have a problem paying for it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that 1 million kids aged 6 have purchased apps or made other in-game purchase in just the last 6 months. Meanwhile, 60% of kids aged 8-12 say they use apps regularly and face additional add-on charges.

One possible compromise between our two points of view is that kids can spend their allowance or money they earn from a job on apps if they wish.