They start young.

[repsac]

Stupid little sighting this, but it's worth mentioning.

Today, through some stupidity of the family's part (not knowing whom is at fault) we find ourselves without clippers. Heading into the local Fred's store, I pick up a pair and then a Mountain Dew for myself.

As I checked out, this boy who I'm guessing to be thirteen or so, and his mother come up to the check out. They don't pay me much attention, and I take time to pay with a check. I even chat with the employee, having worked at the store before.

Picking up my clippers, I turn to leave and get maybe just to the door (some six feet) before the clerk says aloud. "Oh, you forgot this!" and holds up my dew. The boy, who I had until then ignored actually had reached to grab it before the clerk caught it. "I'd have taken that!" he said proudly.

Looking back I could not resist saying loud enough to him, so his mother heard. "Stealing is wrong. I paid for the drink not you. Do you always steal things which you haven't paid for?"

The mother's look was priceless, you could see the anger building and then she turned to him and smacked the boy upside the back of his head. He did not seem pleased with me though.

[rdp78]

Well, he deserved that but in some places that is consider child abuse and if I was the mother I would maybe tell him he is grounded or something similar. Anyway from my experince kids can have some very sticky fingers and it takes a good parent to teach them that stealing is wrong. Oh, I got a couple stories here to share:

A few months I had mother with her five kids (or was four) in tow ranging from about 10 to two I think and they were looked middle class. Anyway we have an ice cream freezer behind the registers and when checking out the youngest one who was in the buggy (not front part) which was right next to the freezer. Now this one those freezer open on top and he so decided he wanted one of those 75 cent ice cream sandwiches which he was able to get. Well, I of course I was busy getting everything rung and I think the older kids were running around (I have no idea why they weren't looking after the little one especially the oldest one because the mother was busy with checking stuff out). Anyway someone notice that the little boy got the ice cream sandwich and was taking a bit out of it which he. Everyone notice it and his mother took it away from him because she didn't want him to have it. She gave it to me and told me she was going to pay it. Unfortunely for she couldn't pay for it at time because we couldn't take her credit card and so they went back to get her checkbook to pay (yes, she did pay for the ice cream sandwich). She also made her little boy apologize to me for the ice cream sandwich he almost ate and told him it was my ice cream that he almost ate (well, it's really the corperation's but this was a really young child). Anyway I accept it and they went on there way.

Okay, a few weeks later I was getting a couple buggies from the parking lot (were a small store) and there was a young family leaving the store empty handed well not really. I notice the little had some sticker things in her hand and I assumed they paid for them but the girl didn't want bag. Well, as I was getting those buggies back to the store I saw the mother turn and saw her daughter with the stickers which she asked where she got them. The girl said she got them in the store and I can't what else happen becuase I was too busy getting those buggies in the store. As I was doing that I notice the mother and daughter came back with the stickers. When I was done with the buggies the mother made the daughter give me back the stickers she took and I think apolgize as well. Then they left with mother lecturing her daughter and I was like okay.

Anyway I've probably have few other kids try to steal but either parents didn't do anything about it except pay for it or the parents weren't there. Well, I had a little girl not even two try to walk out with fifty cent candy(don't ask why she was wondering around but she did have four older siblings) and yes, her mother tried to get it out her little hands but she couldn't so she paid for it before she left. Oh, we even had two preteen boys caught by an AM trying to eat candy cookies before leaving and she ban them from the store but told they can come back with a parent to pay from them (they never did).

[FloridaLizardQueen]

I remember a long time ago (I think when I was like 4 years old or something), my mom and I were in a Convenience store and she was getting coffee. I was looking at the comic book rack and I picked up a book and started flipping through it. Well my mom was ready to leave, and without realizing it, I had taken the comic book with me. When she saw me with it, she asked me where I got it. I told her from the store, and she said, "You didn't pay for that, you need to give it back to the man at the counter."

So I went back into the store and gave the guy his book back and I told him I was sorry. He was a friend of the family, and he was also very forgiving.

[hecubus]

My dad has frequently told the story of back when he worked at a pharmacy. His boss was a good friend of the family, and my brother and I always called him "Uncle Jerry." Anyway, one day, after my dad had taken my brother to the store, he saw my brother playing with a toy car. He hadn't seen this particular car before, so my dad asked my brother where he got it.

My brother replied, "I got it from Uncle Jerry's store."

Needless to say, my dad was more than a little angry at this. So, he proceeded to walk my brother back to the store (we lived about half a mile away), every once in a while giving my brother a swat on the behind. He made my brother go up to Uncle Jerry, tell him what he had done, and made him apologize. Which my brother did, exteremely tearfully.

I don't think either my brother or I ever stole anything again.

[repsac]

I live in Georgia. A good smack on the back of the head is common here. Heck, many of the public schools (up to high school even) still paddle students.

[AFpheonix]

rdp, the difference between the kids in your story and the OP was that the kid in the OP was old enough to know better. He definitely deserved to get his reboot button pushed.

The kids you described were still learning the whole "not everything in the world belongs to you" thing.

[One-Fang]

a little girl not even two ... with fifty cent candy ... her mother tried to get it out her little hands but she couldn't

So much for taking candy from a baby.

[rdp78]

rdp, the difference between the kids in your story and the OP was that the kid in the OP was old enough to know better. He definitely deserved to get his reboot button pushed.

The kids you described were still learning the whole "not everything in the world belongs to you" thing.

Well, the child in the first one was too young to figure out what he was doing was wrong and I hope that lesson sticks with him so he doesn't cause trouble again. Now second one I think was probably around 8 or 9 (I should have been clear on her age in the first place) so you would think she would know better but she didn't. Of course, those two preteen boys should defaintly knew better then to steal from a store even if it was like a dollar (we also think they shoplifted a 10 dollar watch too) and I think they did it because they throught they could get away with it.

I'm also thinking a few adults still haven't learn that lesson and of course, they pay it the hard way. I think some people shoplift because they can get away with it and yet most of the time they don't.

[AFpheonix]

Ah...I was picturing the sticker girl to be like 2 or 3.

[Imogene]

Had this one happen to me, two nights ago now.
I was forced out of the house, as the realtor wanted to show it. (I'm living in my parent's house until it sells, basically) So, I went up to the mall, wearing a blue dragon shirt, and jeans. In other words, my usual dress.
I hadn't even gotten twenty feet into the mall when someone just barely out of his teens, if that, going the other direction, starts waving at me and yelling "Hi George!"
Note to self: My name's not George.
I think nothing of it, and only respond by giving him a lifted eyebrow, then continue on with my shopping. As I'm on my way out, I decide to head upstairs to check out the Spencer's... Kid and his friends happen to be hanging out on the chairs provided by the mall at the top of the escalator.
Kid, again, says "Hi, George!" and I turn around, entirelyv bypassing Spencer's, to walk back to the escalator at center court, and all the way there, I can hear the jackass yelling "Hey George!"

[Sunsetsky]

A while back, I was checking out a mother and her two kids. While we weren't looking, the youngest daughter took some gum and snuck it into her mom's purse. The oldest daughter caught her and told the mother. The mother took the gum out, put it back on the shelf and told the youngest to apologize to me for trying to steal.

[kibbles]

Well, he deserved that but in some places that is consider child abuse and if I was the mother I would maybe tell him he is grounded or something similar. Anyway from my experince kids can have some very sticky fingers and it takes a good parent to teach them that stealing is wrong. Oh, I got a couple stories here to share

ITA exactly, what the mother did was absolutely child abuse. Either tell him his grounded, make him apologize for saying what he did, etc. There is no reason to be an abusive a*hole.

Kibbles

[kibbles]

Heck, many of the public schools (up to high school even) still paddle students.

How is that even allowed in a civilized society that the world is supposed to be now?

[KuzcoLlama]

Let's make this about the the fact a kid was brazen enough to steal, and not about parenting skills. Plain and simple.

[repsac]

Corporal punishment (paddling) is still allowed and possible so long as certain guidelines are met.

1.) The student must be under the age of 18.
2.) The student's parents must sign a release allowing the school to use said punishment.
3.) A standard paddle must be used. (Bout a foot and a half long, quarter inch thick)
4.) No more than six licks (hits) allowed in one day. (The typical punishment is 3.)
5.) IF the student refuses to be paddled, then they may not be forced. However, refusal typicaly warrants a one week out of school suspension; and a call to the parents. Paddling, does not.


In the social higherarchy of schools, paddling is actually accepted rather easily. It's not something students are made fun of for, and in fact many times a student who "takes his or her" licks; will be better respected than one who doesn't.

Paddling is VERY common in southern states, in most public schools and nearly all private.