What Can Parents Do If They Catch Children Stealing ? - 3 Tips To Follow
I read about a child who was caught stealing recently. She had taken in quite a haul and there was a lot of money, jewellery and some MP3 players as well. This was obviously an extreme case and I imagine that the parents would need professional help here as there seems to be an underlying social or emotional problem or the child is seeking revenge.
With very young children stealing, their age and immaturity usually accounts for it, as they have no inkling about the concept of private possessions or property. In the mind of the very young child who may see a toy and like it, there is no reason why she should not have it. With older children, there is going to be a problem as they should have understood the moral and social implications of stealing and why it is wrong.
What can parents do about children stealing ? First they should always react when they catch their children stealing . This does not mean a showdown but they should quietly explain the immorality of stealing. If the parents do NOT react at all, then this will be seen by the child as sort of approval and it is reinforcing negative, and anti social behavior, which is hardly a model for the growing child.
Children stealing is quite a common occurrence though and although small items may be involved, it is very important to ensure that it does not happen with any frequency. Secondly, each stealing incident needs to be discussed with the child. Let us look at the most common scenarios of children stealing. Sometimes, they do it because they simply do not have enough money to get what they want. This is also exacerbated by peer pressure as everybody else in the class has the latest phone or iPod or whatever.
Thirdly, if a child has stolen some candy, parents should make sure it is returned and if the child has already eaten it, they should encourage the child to go back and pay for it. Then some corrective action should be taken where the child has to face the consequences of his actions. In this case they would have to work, to earn back the money. They can do this by carrying out extra chores at home.
It is strange that some parents actually encourage stealing by their own behavior. Take parents who steal stationery from their workplace and think nothing of it. The child is actually witnessing stealing and it will come as no surprise if they start stealing things from school and shops.
Enforcing consequences like the one above for children stealing is just one of the many examples from a child behavior program which can help your kids to get back on track. A program like this where you can learn behavior modification techniques can help you deal with other difficult child behavior problems such as aggression, defiance and verbal abuse. The link below will show you that there really is an easy way to solve all these problems.
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