i did something horrible! (girl, playing, children, 8 yr old)

[ExPit]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

Thats what I think...hope Im right. You can get away with it easy in 1970s los Angeles, it was a huge town back, drive 10 miles and no one would ever reconize you.

If that's what you think then you are right, for you. Sounds like we're about the same age and it's true that people did seem to have more of a sense of humor about a lot of things. I had an uncle who was wealthy who used to shoplift all the time, but as a joke. He thought it was funny. I even heard that Frank Sinatra never went anywhere that he didn't cop a little something just to keep in practice. I do understand how those losses are then passed on to paying customers, but the rules didn't seem to be so clearly or critically drawn in those days. My porblem with the OP was the motivation behind the stealing, as if it were the only way to make her daughter feel good about herself.

[frogandtoad]

We have plenty of money and my children do not own a single video game. Nor do I give them to other children at parties. I want my children to grow up understanding that material wealth is not the end goal. I do not want them to be snobby, and I think they use imaginations better when they have FEWER things. My kids play with sticks and look for bugs and have a few toys, but not many. And we live in an affluent area too, and most of their friends have all sorts of things I do not allow my kids to have. I make sure my kids understand how little some others have, and my kids will sometimes spend their own allowance (all of $1) on helping the homeless and things like that.

I think what you need to change is not your material situation, but your view on what is important in life. Keeping up with other kids is NOT important and to help your children do so (whether you can afford to or not) is doing them a disservice. Teach them what is important in life--love, respect for others and self, working hard, etc.

Probably you should not take the video back, but you should not give it as a gift either. Go give it to a charity.

[crazyma]

It's odd the OP didn't seem to care about her stealing issues, until she thought her daughter saw her. So what, it's okay if I don't get caught?????
I think her conscience may have finally came out to bite her on the hiney??Maybe??
OP, you need to point blank ask your daughter what she saw you do, return the game to the store and hope the mananger will cut you some slack, or pay the consequences....and then you need some serious help with this problem AND get counseling for you and your children. They need to find out now life isn't always fair, crap happens, and Mom needs a dose of reality. You are gonna steal the wrong thing, at the wrong place, and risk losing you kids while you sit in jail.

[chielgirl]

If the OP had one post, how did she ever get 10 rep points? That's truly sad.

[Foreverking]

you start with 10

[chielgirl]

Thanks, didn't know that.
I have more confidence in people now.

[summers19]

This post can not be real. I believe most people find 'city-data' because they are looking for city type data, then stumble across the other forums in the meantime.
This OP has one post and one post only. I do believe she's wasting our time.

[findinghope]

so what you are teaching her is:
1. do whatever it takes to get what you want--even if it's illegal
2. look good in front of others even if it means you might go to jail
3. life is about material things

sell the house, go live somewhere that is not so "affluent"--DO NOT STEAL AGAIN!
and teach your children how to live a good but frugal life. with the way the economy is going, do you thik it's wise to risk getting into illegal trouble for an 8 yr old boy your daughter likes?! what kind of nonsense is this?

[stan4]

Take it back. Own up to the responsibility. Don't teach your daughter that it's ok b/c you didn't get caught. Horrible lesson.

Yesterday, I took my dog to the pet store to get a new collar. She is normally very well-behaved, but this time she snagged a treat that was in a bin on the floor. I told her to drop it - she did - the treat was intact (though a little slobbery). She would not get to have it a. b/c of her behavior and b. b/c she's allergic to some of the ingredients.

Over the protests of the store people, I insisted on paying for the treat. I would have done this anyway, but I knew a child was there with her mother and had seen what had happened. I was happy that her mother pointed out to the child that something had happened and that I had taken responsibility for it.

I don't have kids yet, but we must all be role models for children. All the time.

[MMKIDS]