My kids got caught stealing candy from my husband's Walgreen's today. I'm so embarrassed and absolutely infuriated I could die. How is he going to go back to work there? I want to kill the little s&%$s, but that would be illegal. Maybe I'll have the word "thief" branded on their dumbass foreheads. 
One of mine did that many years ago, I think she was around 5. We did not realize until we got out to the car she had taken some candy. My husband was so mad he picked her up and took her back into the store and make her apologize to the manager and return the merchandise. We never had to deal with that problem again.
My son has done this before too! We did the same thing as cupcake...Made him return the item and apologize. No problems since.
when our son was really little he did the same thing--but he stole bits (as in for a drill) from home depot, we didn't realize it until we were home & the next time we went to town (45 min away) i went in first, explained what happened & told them NOT TO TAKE IT LIGHTLY (what i mean is i didn't want to sales person to say ohhh that's okay) he had to say he was sorry & tell her what he did, i don't remember have had a repeat since---good luck
Well, Jim's manager gave them a stern talking to, at his request. And I have them at hard labor. And I'm going to have the scout leaders talk to them about honesty. But I have to stay out of arms reach, or I'm gonna strangle them. The sad thing is that my DD has done this before. She was only about 2 1/2 or 3 at the time, she took a pack of gum from the check out line after I told her no, she couldn't have it. I marched her butt back in there (after spanking it) and made her give it back and the manager scolded her. I thought that would be the end of it. sigh.....
What really tops this off is the $113 dollars I have to eat on concert tickets for the Aly and AJ concert this weekend. I had bought them as a surprise. I guess the surprise is on me.
how old are your kids? if they are 9 or older i would say make them write a sign saying "i am (age) years old and I stole from this store because I want to go to prison." and sit with them while they stand in front of the store they stole from for a certain amount of hours. i only dealt with this one time and it never happened again. hope things work out.
how old are your kids? if they are 9 or older i would say make them write a sign saying "i am (age) years old and I stole from this store because I want to go to prison." and sit with them while they stand in front of the store they stole from for a certain amount of hours. i only dealt with this one time and it never happened again. hope things work out.
That's a bit harsh, isn't it? All kids, whether you want to believe it or not, try stealing once.
Last year we were out of town for a family reuinion of sorts and my family was staying at a motel. Instead of getting up and going out to eat breakfast we decided to get some milk and cereal for the morning. When we got b ack to the motel my son, who was 8 at the time, kept going into the bathroom and coming back out. I thought he was doing his usual thing about playing in new bathrooms (my kids are weird like that... if it's a place they haven't been and there is a bathroom, they have to explore it). Anyway, the next morning, I saw him get out of bed and put something in his p.j. pants, so I waited for him to get out of the bathroom and asked him to show me what he had. Well, it turned out to be one of those electronic Connect 4 games.... one of the small models. Well, instead of getting mad I told him that he was wrong and that he had to take it back to the store and apologize. He was mortified! So we go back to the store and I walked in with him and found the manager and made my son tell him what he did and the manager said something to him and took the game back. I sent my son out to the car and bought the game and put iot in my purse. At Christmas, we only buy our kids three gifts each. They get to pick them out and we will buy them if we can afford it, but they usually get some pretty nice gifts. Anyway, as I was saying.... at Christmas I took the game from my hiding place, wrapped it nicely and placed it in a bigger box with a wrapped up rock to weigh it down, and wrapped that box really pretty. My son, when he picked up the box to unwrap it, knew for sure that it was going to be the big Lego set he wanted and opened it up. He was disappointed not to find the Lego set, but when he opened the Connect 4 game up he was super disappointed to the point of tears. I asked him why he was crying and he said he wanted the Legos, "Not this!" he cried and threw the game on the floor. I just looked at him as calmly as I could and told him that he thought it was important enough to steal a few weeks earlier, so I thought he really wanted it. Moral of the story, he has not once played with the game and he makes sure that I know when he finds things on the ground..... be it a penny or a piece of paper. He does not want me to do that to him again.
Lesson learned? Maybe, maybe not.
With us it is my stepdaughter, who is 10 now. In Pre-K and Kindergarten we went through it with her stealing things from her classmates. She would be grounded and made to apologize and talked to sternly by us and teacher. It seemed to work......last year she stole $15.00 from me that I had left out thinking it was fine there. After she did that she had to work off the money, I made her tell me why she was punished and any of her friends that called to play with her - no pussyfooting around - she had to say "I am a thief, I steal things" She hated it!!!!!!!!!! She then pulled the same thing on her mother like two days later!!!! Just $2 but it is the principle. Well, enough was enough!!!! We took her to the police station and had them tell her exactly what would happen to her if she kept it up. The detective (we know him) wasn't real nice about it - just matter of fact. Then we showed her where the home for juvenile delinquents was and told her that is where she would live if she didn't stop. We made it clear that we will not allow a thief to live in our home!!!
She has not stolen anything since, so maybe it worked!!!
I wish I had been there when they were caught. I would have told the store manager to call the police. But it was my husband's call, and I have to back him. Right now I have no clear idea what to do, since my mom says grounding them isn't any good. (thanks, mom)
But they are working their a**es off every day, and I'm making it clear how disappointed I am. Plus, they know I've told their scout leaders, and I'm considering making them go talk to our parish priest. Of course, we work this weekend, and can't make his butt go to confession, and my DD hasn't made her first one yet, so that's out. I considered writing "THIEF" in sharpie on their foreheads, but nixed that idea as spiteful. But I do like the sign idea.....however, the store manager won't go along with it.
Everyone I talk to says it's "just kids". But it feels like a kick in the gut to me. Not that I'm Mother Theresa, but it just makes me feel like a total failure.
I guess I'm just winging it. Hopefully I can keep this from escalating. Thanks to all of you who responded. I don't feel quite so alone anymore.
I think you are handling it the right way. ALOT of people have done this as kids. I stole quarters out of my step-mom's cash box at the fabric store she owned...never got caught, but I was so sick with guilt that I finally confessed my crime and gave the money back. I am still so ashamed. I never did anything like that again. My DH stole necklace fasteners at a bead store...three of them for a total of about 30 cents. He was about ten. His mom marched his butt back in, made him confess and give them back. He was pretty ashamed, and to this day shakes his head and wonders WHY he did that!
I have four kids, so I suspect I will face this one day.
Good for you for standing firm on the tickets! That is a HARD thing to do. But then, parenting is hard...
I think that all kids do this. That does not make it right. A lot depends on the age also. By about 4/ 5/6 they are old enough to have some idea that it is wrong.
At two or three, you need to make them understand that it is wrong.
My oldest son did this one time, he was about 3/4, (he's 21 now) and took a small key chain from a convenience store that we frequent all the time.
He was driven back to the store immediately and made to give it back, apologize etc. Much to my chagrin, the employees were not very hard on him, telling him not to do it again, blah blah, with a twinkle in their eye, trying not to smile. BUT he never did it again,
When I was about the same age, I vaguely remember the incident. We were visiting relatives. Well my niece, a few years older than me (long story) had all these really neat barbie things, they had alot more money than we did and the kids had everything. I put a few little items in my pocket, when we got home, my parents found them and needless to say I NEVER took anything that didn't belong to me again.
My youngest son has a "friend" who is incredibly spoiled. For the longest time you literally had to search him before he left. One time he came downstairs to leave and said he was borrowing a video game, my husband opened the case to check it and he had 7 games crammed inside the case. You had to watch him like a hawk. This from the kid that gets EVERYTHING he wants. Go figure.
For the longest time until recently he was not allowed in my husbands house at all (we are separated now).
He seems to have gotten much better recently. Thank God!
One of mine did that many years ago, I think she was around 5. We did not realize until we got out to the car she had taken some candy. My husband was so mad he picked her up and took her back into the store and make her apologize to the manager and return the merchandise. We never had to deal with that problem again.
You know - I also was guilty of this as a child, my dad owned a liquor store right next to our grocery store, and when he discovered what I'd done, he marched me right back over there and made me apologize to the manager, who I already knew because he & my dad were friends. Never did it again!
ok...karateka....I know Im the only one laughing...and I know ths isn't a laughing matter!!! But i about peed my pants when you wrote you wanted to take a sharpie and write thief on their forehead!! I laugh because my little brother used to steal ALL THE TIME...I mean ALL THE TIME....once in a grocery store he stole a whatchamacallit candy bar....and told me that "Dad bought it for us to eat in the toy secito while we waited for them".....yeah...I fell for it...and ate it right along with him....an employee came over and asked us what we were doig...and my lying little thievig brother stuck to his story "dad paid for it"....well they tracked down our parents in the store....my Dad WAS PISSED! He made my brother go to the front of the store and annouce on the itercom his name...and that he was a theif! and for everyone to keep their belongings close, because he was in the store!!! Granted this was when i was 8 and he was 7....Im 31 now....but I was horrified for him!!! .....but my Dad didn't stop there either.....anytime my brother HAD to go in store...my Dad keep box tape in the car...and would tape his hands to his pockets!!!! Lets just say....mybrother never stole again!!!
now see you why I laughed....
My Dad had all kinds of remedies for thigs like this.....my brother went through the flipping the bird stage....he would sit in the back window of the school bus and flip people off!! well one day....my dad was behind that bus!!! He pulled the bus over (again this was when you could do that haha) got my brother off and tied a STICK to his middle finger, put him BACK on the bus ...and made him wear it to school for a week! !!! Told him that since he liked to keep it up so much he would fix it to stay that way!
I have a brother story!!! My brother, who is 5 years older than me, was 13 and he was big for his age. Anyway, one night he and his buddies snuck out of the house and they got caught by the police after curfew (remember the day when they announced on television :"It's 10 o'clock, do you know where your chisdren are?"). Back then my mother never, and I mean NEVER left the house without her false eyelashes, but she was woken up by the police calling at midnight, so she and my oldest sister went to the police station and talked to the desk sargeant. The officer took my mother back to a holding cell and there was my brother with a s@@t eating grin on his face and the saregeant asked her if that was her son. Well, my mother saw the grin on his face and said "Nope, that isn't my son. My son wouldn't think this was one bit funny!" and she turned around and walked out of the police station. My sister had to call my grandparents to get him out. He has never been in a jail cell since!
how old are your kids? if they are 9 or older i would say make them write a sign saying "i am (age) years old and I stole from this store because I want to go to prison." and sit with them while they stand in front of the store they stole from for a certain amount of hours. i only dealt with this one time and it never happened again. hope things work out.
That's a bit harsh, isn't it? All kids, whether you want to believe it or not, try stealing once.
you may think this is harsh but think of the alternative, you could whip them and most parents dont want to do that and besides that only hurts for the time and then they are right back there doing it again, or you could try to be sensitive and just tell them not to do that and if that doesnt work and they are doing it again whats next? i dont want to see my kids in prison you have to stop it now and you have to do it the most effective way. you are not abusing them by embarrassing them. karateka, i think you are doing a great job if the kids are responding to the punishment you have handed down. not everything works for every kid and you know your kids the best. i say GREAT MOM keep up the good work.
My Brother was having a problem with his son, it wasn't about taking things, it was about respect for other people. He seemes to have a problem with teachers. He deicided to SHOW him what it would be like in a JD prision. He dressed him up in some old coveralls, extra big underwear, extra big t-shirt and put him to hard labor cleaning up the yard, a shed, and anything else he could think of. The extra big is because this boy likes to wear the clothes he has like 3 times to big for him (its the style). Even took him shopping with it on. But the worst punishment he came up with was on sunday to go to church he made him wear a white shirt and tie, this kid is 13, and he bawled and bawled, about having to wear clothing that actually fit him and looked decent. Good luck with this, hopefully its just a phase.
twinsline7
LMAO!!!!
Just let me say, your dad is AWESOME!!! Why can't I be creative like that? Thanks so much for your post, it's the first laugh I've had this week!
....my dad was ALL about public humliation!! ....I think youre doing a great job!!!
i just got an email the other day from a friend with a picture of a kid standing on the street with a sign that said HI IM 13 YEARS OLD I STEAL I WANT TO GO TO PRISON TO BE WITH DADDY!!! and the mom is in a chair sitting there making him do this. i do not think this is harsh. what is harsh is beating your child or locking your kids in a closet. or maybe starving your kids because you think they are bad. awful stuff we hear about all the time in the news. every kids needs a little embarrassment in their lives to keep them on the right track!!!!
now im sure in general your kids arent bad and don't go around stealing things. i agree that in this case grounding them wont really do any good. perhaps you can take away something they love when they arent there and suggest that perhaps it got stolen!!!!
perhaps you can take away something they love when they arent there and suggest that perhaps it got stolen!!!!
My parents did something similar to this with my brothers when we were younger, but it wasn't for stealing. My brothers were very bad about not wanting to put their bikes away when they were done with them. They would always leave them laying in the front yard. One day my brothers went to get their bikes to go somewhere and their bikes were gone. My parents made a big show of looking everywhere to find the bikes and then told my brothers that someone must have stolen them because they left them in the front yard. Their bikes were gone for several weeks. One day my dad came home and announced that he had found their bikes at some place or other and gave them back to my brothers. After that those bikes were always put away before dinner.
or locking your kids in a closet. !!!!
THANKS A LOT SUSAN.....FINE....I'll go let them out!!! 
are you sure I have to??
Sorry to bring this back up .
I wish we could do things like the stories i heard in here on how to stop kids from doing things.
Know today you can do stuff to kids any more like spank them or any thing or your the one that get in trouble and the kids know it that is why we have so many bad kids. I work with the local police dept. and i over heard a kids telling his mother if you hit me i going to have you arresed.
So what they did was took him to the detintion center and turn them over to them and let him think he was in there for a long time for stealing (to Scare him) boy was he cring and all he though he was in there for a long time but after the end of the day the ylet him out we have never had any trouble from him every aggain his.mother said sorry it so long a all.
I have a friend whose child stole something from a store and when she found out she took him back to the store, had him tell the manager what he had done, give it back to the manager, and then made him pay for it out of money he had been saving! It wasn't a big or expensive item, but when you're 9 yrs. old even a dollar is a lot. So he left the store not only without the toy, but also a couple dollars lighter in his pocket. He never did anything like that again.
I really don't think public humiliation is the way to go about this at all. I think it is harsh. No its technically not physically harsh but don't forget mentally hurt hurts 100 times more than physical.
I really don't think it's appropriate for me to tell you what to do but imo i think making them announce that on the intercom or writing a sign on their forehead or makign them stand infront of the store with a sign is a bit far. I know if my parents did that i would have turned out far more seclusive and quiet than i am now.
My mom never did anything and sad to say i always stole from my mom and my brother and once in a while took from stores(but i never did it on purpose, i always jsut forgot i had it in my hand or something similar). They knew and it wasn't small bucks(i stole over 100 dollars at a time sometimes) but i was little and didn't use it and she just let me learn the lesson myself. Stealing is something everyone has to deal with.
I it soundslike to me that every kid is bad and steals. I don't think so we hadakidcome in the sub station and turn in a wallet full of money that he had found in a parking lot aand all the moneywassteal in it. and he wasonly10 years so not all kids are bad. ok see you.
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