Parenting
Thursday, December 10, 2009
My toddler is a shoplifter!
user
Many a mom has confessed to
looking the other way if they discover their
little darling has lifted something from the
market shelf and conveniently stashed it (unpaid for!) in their
diaper bag. Some find the stolen goods while still meandering
down the aisle while others see the contraband after they've
left the store.
Our good friend,
Christine
Coppa, author of the
Storked!
blog on Glamour.com shares her personal story here:
"The other day while loading groceries onto the belt my
fifteen-month-old son, JD, snatched a pack of orange Tic-Tacs from
the candy rack. He started shaking them up and down like he does
the maracas I bought him, or the bottle of vitamin B12 I sometimes
let him shamelessly play with while I cook his egg whites and
sausage links.
The grandmother-looking woman behind us was entertained by JD
entertaining himself--and I was relieved since he usually wants to
climb out of the cart or void my purchase by pushing the red button
on the credit card machine during checkout time. I paid for the
groceries. Loaded my bags. I grabbed the basket with my fingers and
navigated it out of the store backwards, scanning the receipt to
see what I saved. Four bucks--not bad. I loaded up my Jeep with
brown bags--and baby. Once JD was belted in I shoved the basket
into a line of others. That's when I noticed the orange
Tic-Tacs. Crap. I snatched them up and looked at them seriously.
Then I felt the bitter cold on my face and saw my baby bundled up,
strapped in and sitting contently in his Britax. The sky was
turning purple as day moved to dusk. I stole the Tic-Tacs and ate
five on the way home."
Ladies - what do you think about Christine turning a
blind eye? Should she have untangled JD and returned the tic
tacs?? What would you have done??? Tell us here or share your
own shoplifting tale in the confessional!
**Christine is also the author of
Rattled! which comes out in April. **She recently bought 12
containers of Tic-Tacs in various flavors to make up for the theft.
She still feels bad.
Related: true mom confessions, storked!, shoplifting, christine coppa
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Posted by Ebony Farashuu Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:45am PST
When my son was three he took a toy from the grocery store. We were in the car when I discovered this. I went BACK to the store, took him in and made him APOLOGIZE to the manager for taking the toy. I needed him to understand that it is NEVER okay to take things, not even by accident.
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Posted by HotCrossBuns Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:49am PST
Was she wrong? Technically:yes. Would I have done the same...Yep! But then I'd make sure to ring up a pack of tic tacs on my next trip and then put them back on the shelf.
It's not even so much a matter of good morals for me...it's fearing the bad karma I'd invite into my life if I didn't make up for the transgression!
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Posted by Jill Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:05am PST
15 months old...you really expect him to apologize to the manager? When he's old enough to know that it's wrong he won't even remember this incident. I say no big deal.
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Posted by Natalie Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:21am PST
of course the mom couldn't have lectured the kid about stealing when he's barely a year old, but she should have returned them anyway. If she starts to fool herself into thinking it's ok to steal, her kid will learn her bad habits. I know 12 year old girls who steal big stuff from big stores all the time and don't think any thing of it. They could go to juvie if they got caught, and be fined much more if they were adults.
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Posted by KristaB Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:38am PST
...when i was a very little kid i stole candy that had fallen out of the display...i thought that because it was on the floor i could keep it...like i said i was very little...my parents tried explaining what stealing was but i didnt understand...all i knew was i was never ever allowed to take anything out of the store...
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Posted by Kenda Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:49am PST
The child didn't steal the mom did. He doesn't know any better, but she does. That she decided to get in the car and leave well I'm sure most would have done that, but doesn't make it right. I think it will be a funny story to tell for years to come. Like my brother stealing 5 packets of kool-aid from the store and my mom making him take it back and he had to give half his allowance $5 at the time (so 2.50) to the clerk. That is and always will be a priceless story. Or my little sister stuffing her shirt with socks from WalMart now that was funny. My mom was so ashamed. It was just priceless.
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Posted by Kenda Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:55am PST
Duchess did you ever eat the grapes from the little bags on the fruit shelves? LOL I did that and I remember this worker coming up and saying to us "THAT'S WRONG!" really loud. So, I was bad and told him that my mom would come over there and yell at him for hollering at us. (I didn't know we couldn't eat them 3 other kids had just done the same thing). My mom did come over and she did yell, but not at him just at us.
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Posted by KristaB Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:26pm PST
...hahahaha...thats funny kenda...i have done that as a child...
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Posted by Spam I Am Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:34pm PST
Just don't do that HERE. You all saw what we did to OJ.
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Posted by Beth Thu Dec 11, 2008 4:51pm PST
If a kid is of a certain age, it can be a good time to teach them about shopping, money, stealing, honesty, etc. But JD is not of that age. And to be quite frank, it depends on whether the store was a mom and pop operation, or a big box retailer like Target or Wal-Mart. Let's be honest here, they will not miss the profits from an 89 cent box of candy. If it's a locally owned shop, I'd return it. That's how I roll.
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