If your 5-year-old boy grabbed a toy car in his hand without telling you while you were shopping, and you didn't find out until you had paid for everything else (except the toy car) and left the store, what would you do?
One woman found out that her son was stealing when they were still in the parking lot outside of the store. Apparently she thought the "right" way to handle it was to drive home, give the kid a "talk", and let him keep the toy car!
That's what I saw on the TV show "Judge Joe Brown" yesterday. When confronted, the mother did not see anything wrong with what she did. She claimed that she would not embarrass a 5-year-old in front of other people, so she needed to handle this at home.
Sometimes I am really disappointed at the way some parents teach their kids. If all the kid got for stealing was a talk and he got to keep the toy, how well do you think he could learn? Besides, the woman still did not pay for the toy at the store. In a way, I think she is stealing too. She could have easily gone back to the store and returned the toy because they were still in the parking lot. If she did not want to embarrass the child, she could have left the child with her partner and gone in the store herself.
And guess what her partner was suing her for? Keeping her partner's property (a washer, a dryer and some other stuff) after they broke up!
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Comments: 11
It made an impression on me I guess, because I never shoplifted anything in my life. As far as I know, she never did it again either.
My son at either 5 or 6 took a little package of sea shells from the Sunday School classroom. When I found it after we were back home and got the truth from him I went in with him to the classroom on the following Sunday. He had to apologize to the Sunday School teacher and promise he would never take anything else ever, without first asking if he could. I did not make him apologize in front of the whole class, though, just to the teacher.