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Here's the deal: There's a little boy in my school who steals almost anything that is not nailed down. He steals pencils, pens, crayons, other children's money, other children's belongings (usually small things). I think it is a serious problem. The administrators don't seem to think it is that big of a deal. I think the problem is going to get worse (it already has gotten worse since the beginning of the year). What should the school do?
For clarification, he's in the second grade.
Last edited by Sam82; 05-07-2009 at 05:27 PM..
Reason: more info
Here's the deal: There's a little boy in my school who steals almost anything that is not nailed down. He steals pencils, pens, crayons, other children's money, other children's belongings (usually small things). I think it is a serious problem. The administrators don't seem to think it is that big of a deal. I think the problem is going to get worse (it already has gotten worse since the beginning of the year). What should the school do?
For clarification, he's in the second grade.
Set a trap and catch him. Then he needs major consequences for his behavior. He has impulse control issues. Plus, he lies. There may be more going on with him then you think. Counselling may help. He has a sense of entiltlement-what is yours is now mine. Maybe he is felling weak and being bullied at home or from peers and when he takes other peoples things he feels powerful.
Set a trap and catch him. Then he needs major consequences for his behavior. He has impulse control issues. Plus, he lies. There may be more going on with him then you think. Counselling may help. He has a sense of entiltlement-what is yours is now mine. Maybe he is felling weak and being bullied at home or from peers and when he takes other peoples things he feels powerful.
Or his family has an economic hardship and he feels the need to grab what he can. Regardless, this needs to be dealt with, especially if he's stealing money. You have to catch him redhanded.
It's unfortunate that the administration doesn't think it's a big deal - sounds like the kid has other issues going on in his life, and this is his way of acting out about it (even if he does deny it).
I'm not a teacher, but did teach summer school for a couple of years. I had one very poorly behaved second grade student; she did all sorts of similar things to get attention (even though sometimes denied it). Turned out that she had a new sibling at home, and was apparently having some tough time adjusting. She wasn't a bad kid, just was going through a rough time. In her case the solution was to remove her from the program, as she didn't need to be there and it was in everyone's benefit to have her elsewhere. I think it shocked her parents into realizing that she really was having a tough time, and hopefully they were able to resolve things at home. Could be something similar with this kid, but in any case it's to everyone's benefit - but especially to his - for the school and parents to figure out what's going on NOW, before he gets older and before he falls into the trap of both himself and others (parents, teachers, peers, etc.) considering him to be a "problem" child.
I had a 4th grader that stole everything from me one year. She stole really weird things too, like my white out. I was told by our child psychologist that because she was adopted, she steals as a way to control and have ownership of things.
She was a sneaky bugger too. One day my class was doing a project and I looked around and didn't see her. Then I noticed some activity behind my desk. She was crawling on the floor under my desk. When I called her out and asked her what she was doing she swore that she was looking for her pencil. Her desk was on the total opposite side of the room, so that wasn't really possible. I made her pull out her pant pockets and sure enough they were stuffed with candy that I had in a box next to my desk.
She also showed up at our school's bookfair with a $100 dollar bill. It was her babysitters.
Notify the parents. Refer the child to your counselor, social worker, or psychologist. If your school or district has a student support services team... find the referral and start that process. If nothing exists in-house, work with the parents to secure an outpatient referral. These behaviors are atypical and could be indicative of any number of serious issues within the child or within his/her home. I would also have a counselor/parent volunteer or yourself lead a class lesson on personal responsibility, character education, or a hands to yourself type thing...
I agree with telling the parents, and school counseling, if available. Hopefully the parents are not part of the problem and will take away privileges, so that the crime costs instead of pays. If the problem persists the police may need to be involved or the child expelled, esp. since I suspect what the school can do is highly limited by laws / procedures. I disagree that the problem should be ignored; that just enables him. No store is going to ignore this kid shoplifting, even as young as he is.
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It was her babysitters.
