When you were a little kid, did you ever steal anything? have your children stolen?

[KristineIN]

the only think I ever remember stealing was this booklet of stickers (had like 5 stickers and the lots of pages with the same stickers) I don't think my parents ever found out, I was probably 7 or 8.

 

My youngest son is the only one who has taken something, once from a Christian bookstore he took a small key chain. I made him take it back and apologize, he's never stolen anything else that I know of since then.

 

Kristine

[Quiver0f10]

I don't remember ever stealing, but my oldest DD tried to steal this toy from a friends house once when she was 4-5? She had it in her hat and it was a bigger toy so it was obvious LOL.

[crazycoffeechic]

:blush:I have, when I was in elementary school, me and my best friend, she got a lot of candy, me, on the other hand, tried to steal a BREAST PUMP!!:smilielol5: Needless to say, we got caught!

[Kris]

This is a tuffy.

 

I had sticky hands in sixth grade. The kids had such neet stuff!! My Dad found fancy pencils and pens in my bedroom and I was busted. He didn't turn me in. Thinking back on it now, I would imagine it was because I was already having so much trouble fitting in, he didn't want to make it worse. I was *so* relieved and that ended my life of crime.

 

My daughter stole something from a fabric store once. She said she just put it in her pocket and forgot it -- yeah, right. I had her take it back to the store and apologize to them. My husband was furious with me.

 

My son, on the other hand -- if he's ever stolen anything, I haven't caught him. But that doesn't mean he just wasn't better at it.

[CookieMonster]

I stole a pack of gum.

 

Daddy found out, marched me back, made me apologize, paid for the gum, then threw it away right outside the store.

 

I never, ever, ever wanted to steal anything again. Ever.

[Chris in VA]

My son stole Triple C (Coricedan Cough and Cold) from the local grocery store for months.

 

Me? Once I stole a piece of drainpipe from a little girl because it was the coolest thing I ever saw.

 

Weird, huh?

[Mrs Mungo]

I never stole anything as a kid but one of my sisters did and had to go give it back to the manager and apologize.

 

My son was a horrible klepto as a baby. He'd stick things in the sling without me noticing. I'd find them when I got to the car and have to haul everyone back in to take it back. They haven't stolen anything as older kids though.

[Rhonda in TX]

Thus began my love affair with office supply products. :lol:

 

Seriously, though, I was never caught and felt incredible guilt about it. I never stole another thing.

 

As far as I know, my kids have not stolen anything.

[Kay in Cal]

I stole a small spool of rainbow colored ribbon once when I was about 13. I felt so bad about it, absolutely wracked with guilt, I went back the next day and "accidentally" overpaid for something else and then fled before they could flag me down. Ugh.

 

My kids--not yet. Though when he was a toddler, my oldest ds took a wallet off a display and put it under our stroller. I really don't think he was old enough at the time to be intentionally trying to steal it. It set off the alarm at the door, and the guard and I had a fun time trying to figure out what it was. When we located it, she just let me walk it back to the counter.

[Lorna in the boonies]

I never have. My brother stole a miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cup from a convenience store and my parents made him take it back and apologize. I learned from his mistake and never had the desire to try it on my own.

 

As far as I know, my kids have never stolen anything.

[Sorbie]

I stole a pack of Rainbow Stripe Gum when I was 3 or 4. You know, the kind with the Zebra. My mom found it before we got out of the parking lot and made me return it. They made a big deal out of it by calling the manager up front and making me turn it over to him and apologize. I NEVER stole anything again - even though I hung out with a lot of kleptomaniacs in my teen years. So I guess public shame trumps peer pressure, at least in my case.

 

-Amber

[Cheryl in NM]

I had a "bad influence" buddy in 5th grade. Our local grocery store had candy and gum in bins right by the doors. How stupid! They eventually moved the bins due to the are theft (hopefully, by more kids than me and my friend). It became commonplace to grab a few pieces of candy everytime we walked out of the store. Around that same time frame I (and said buddy) stole a tiny glass figurine from Hallmark. My parents found out, tanned my hide and took me back to the store. The manager took me to his office, gave a severe scolding and threatened to call the cops. That was the end of all my sticky finger incidents.

 

When ds was 4 he picked up a toy off a display in Radio Shack when he was with his daddy. Daddy made him take it back in and apologize. I got a call at work from ds telling me good bye and that he wouldn't see me again because the police were coming to get him. He was in tears and hiding under the kitchen table. I could have killed dh for being so hard on him at that age. On the other hand, when ds wanted to handle everything in the store I only had to let him know that the store employees might think he was trying to steal that item. He is very sensitive to anyone thinking he's trying to steal something even now at 11.

[kat19]

I stole some gum once..

 

My son(12) stole from Casey's once~he was like 3 at the time..He brought home some candy when he went with his dad~the funny thing is my husband didn't even know until I pointed it out when they came home.. They went back and the lady said ds could keep it, so dh didn't have to pay anyway, but still.. I wanted them to go back :001_smile:

[RhondaM.]

My kids, no.

 

Me, yes. Once. Sometime between 3rd and 6th grade. A public school library book. Just to see if I could take an extra book out of the library with me and it not get noticed.

 

Not too longer after I was watching the Little House rerun where Laura stole Nellie's doll. Conviction set in. The library book was returned.

 

My life of crime ended then and there.

[sands31210]

I stole a bunch of stuff (candy, comb, confetti popper) with a friend when I was in 5th grade. We got caught and the store called the police who proceeded to give me a ride home. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and never stole again. I was also grounded to my room for a month.

 

My kids have not stolen anything. Well, except putting things under the stroller when they were really young. Ugh, I hated finding that stuff when I got to the car and having to go back in to return it.

[Needleroozer]

I stole a pack of gum.

 

Daddy found out, marched me back, made me apologize, paid for the gum, then threw it away right outside the store.

 

I never, ever, ever wanted to steal anything again. Ever.

 

Yep, me too. Same age, same scenario. It was Chicklets- remember those?

 

My ds stole twice the month he turned 13- two different electronic objects of the same type, from two different cousins. I made an appointment with a juvenile detective at the downtown city police station. He gave my ds a tour of the station, including looking into the eyes of a young man who was in the lock-up unit at the time, finger printed him, showed him the paperwork of what the court fees and financial costs to his father and I would have been if either party that he stole from had pressed charges, made him write letters to him (the detective), and the parents of the cousins, etc.

 

It was quite intense, scary, and sobering to him, and really drove the lesson home. The detective was great, kind but firm, and told me he would much rather take the time to do this for/to kids at the first minor offense so they never ever have to go through it for real. In addition to the police visit, he was grounded (we BOTH were, sigh!) and given hard labor chores for over a month. IT was really hell, but I think he really learned from the experience. There is something of merit to the whole "scared straight" idea.

[ThelmaLou]

Me, no. One of my boys, yes. We found one of his grandmother's rings in his pocket several years ago. It was during a pirate/treasure phase he was in. His older girl cousin had opened up their grandmother's jewelry chest for viewing. He later went back and pocketed a ring for his own pirate's booty at home. He was probably 6 years old. Old enough to know better because he was trying to hide it. I think it made a real impression, though. He was mortified when he had to admit it to his grandmother and deliver the ring into her hands.

[Jenny in Atl]

Yup, had a bully of a friend who made me show I was worthy of her friendship by steeling candy from this not-so-nice corner-store owner. I think we were about nine or ten. This happened a few times, and I always felt awful. In fact to this day, I still have issues with thinking lost prevention is following me around due to an awful guilty conscience. Thankfully, as far as I know, neither of mine has pinched a thing.

[mcconnellboys]

My older son went through this phase when he was about 11 where he took some sort of trading cards (Pokemon? or maybe another kind) from a couple of kids (which were returned, with profuse apologies) and also tried to once take some from a store, but I caught him.

 

Suffice it to say that by the time we were finished with his redirection, he has not thought to do such a thing again. For the rest of that summer, he was required to stay right beside us whenever he was in a store with us and we'd check his pockets, etc., before moving on from there......

 

And there were further humiliations which were part of our distrust that served to make a strong impression regarding how important trust is. We were not specifically attempting to embarrass or humiliate him, please don't get me wrong, but that was the overall affect for him.

[Carol in Cal.]

but I was not allowed to have gum and was fascinated with it.

 

I would try to gnaw it off the sidewalks when I was 4, and when I was 5 or 6 I distinctly remember going to the wastebasket at school if someone had been caught with gum to try to sneakily pull it back out to chew later.

 

I cannot believe that I was so gross.

 

That is all..

[Nestof3]

Yes, Wendy Stanley and I stole gum from the local Bi-Lo store. We chewed it in the tailgate portion of our long rust-colored station wagon. I felt pretty horrible after that.

 

So far, no one has stolen anything in our house.

[Emmy]

When I was pretty young I stole a bible tract from the Christian bookstore.....in my defense I thought they were free cause they were just like the ones that they handed out at Dairy Queen.....:tongue_smilie: My poor parents had to go back in and give it back and explain my ignorance.

[Michelle in MO]

stole a candy bar from a video store. When I discovered what she had done, I drove her back to the store and made her give it back and tell the store manager. She never stole again! :)

[gardenschooler]

 

My son was a horrible klepto as a baby. He'd stick things in the sling without me noticing.

 

I had one that did this when she was in a stroller. It was very embarrassing to have to go back in and explain that my little one had sticky fingers! :blush:

[HSMom2One]

When I was five we were on a family grocery shopping outing and I stole a root beer barrell hard candy. Even more stupidly, I hid it in one of the grocery bags full of groceries thinking I could get to it first when we got home. Since we lived several miles from the store and being the age I was, I forgot all about it until I heard my mother yelling my name from the kitchen as she unpacked groceries. Honesty was a primary value instilled into the children of our family, and since my mother figured out what had happened she promptly drove me all the way back to the grocery store where I had to apologize to the store manager and return the candy. I was humiliated beyond words. Never stole another thing from that day forward. :D

 

Fast forward ahead about thirty years to when I was a single mother and imagine my horror as my young son and I were walking out of the video store as the merchandise sensor went off at the door. Toys hidden under his clothing were soon revealed as I stood there dying of humiliation in front of customers and store staff. We talked when we got home and I found out there were other toys from another store to deal with too, and so we paid visit to that manager. We had to make a series of visits back to make things right of course, with my son working for no pay stocking shelves, cleaning and dusting, but it was a good lesson for him. The whole thing left a big impact on ds. I concluded that he was looking for attention and also longing for things we could not afford, but he knew better after being caught.

 

Now that this ds is grown he has managed restaurants, hired and fired employees, done payroll and managed the books for several businesses. He has an excellent work ethic and has never had another problem with stealing. He's a great guy and I'm proud of him.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[Elisabeth in IL]

I stole a piece of penny candy from the corner store when I was quite young. Same candy goes for at least a nickel if not a dime now, maybe even a quarter... anyway I felt guilty for a long time - still do. :( My boys have taken toys from friends but not anything from a store that I'm aware of. :( I don't know if they feel the same remorse at the act of stealing that I did.

[LaMere Academy]

Yes I took my friend's lip gloss. Hey, it was chocolate flavored. I was 7 I think. I still remember it. Then I had to keep it hidden. I was very ashamed, but never owned up to it, as far as I remember.

 

As far as I know, my children have never taken anything that didn't belong to them.

[Natalieclare]

I began a life of crime when I was about 12, I think. I stole with regularity from drug stores, the mall, my parents, but never from my friends. I finally got arrested when I was 14. I went through some community jury thing where I batted my eyelashes and talked about my crummy relationship with my (loving but misguided) parents. My only punishment was to go to a class on self-esteem for a day. What a joke. Didn't keep me from pocketing things.

 

Honestly, the day I stopped stealing was the day I became a Christian. After I felt the life of Jesus dwelling in me, I never took another thing.

 

My kids have heard about this from early ages. They have never stolen!