what would you do if your toddler put something in the stroller while shopping and didn't realize it until getting home? (infant, spanking)
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My mom was telling me a story what my 2yr. old niece had done while out shopping with her mom and Grandparents. They thought it was funny. I didn't and told my mom if my sister-in-law don't send the money to cover the cost of the necklace, it's stealing and not setting a good example for the kid. My mom acted like it was no big deal. I was mad.
Return it. My little girl loved to do this and still does if I don't stop her!
LOL I actually don't believe people who say they would drive all the way back to the store to return a pack of gum. I think the moral indignation is really funny...
I had my 2-year-old niece in a stroller at the mall. We had been going in and out of the stores and as we were walking down the mall, I looked down and she had a small "gift basket" in her lap, one of those pre-packed baskets with toiletries in it, wrapped in plastic. She must have snagged it off a lower shelf when I slowed down.
You can bet I hightailed it back to the bath & beauty store and put it back on the shelf. #1, because it was the right thing to do and #2, the last thing I wanted was to be stopped by a mall cop as I walked out the mall door and have to claim "sorry, Officer, my niece took it without my knowledge!" I'm sure they hear that all the time.....in fact, it's a method frequently used by shoplifters ("Oh, I didn't know that was in there.....my child must have taken it.")
But, most importantly, it was the RIGHT thing to do, a concept that seems to be difficult for some people to understand.
I'm positive that most people believe life is too short for this kind of "do-gooding" and aren't posting to avoid the sanctimonious perfect people here.
And "it doesn't bode well"...what? My children are very law abiding, well behaved, lovely children who would never break a rule or law knowingly. All this and when they were little, a few times something small got swiped by them and I didn't take it back. So....
I'm not driving back to the store for an inexpensive item. I would return it (if non-edible and not damaged) the next time I go there (or am near there) with an apology. If it is edible or damaged, I would have them charge me for it then.
An expensive item? It warrants an immediate trip back.
I remember my younger sister taking a necklace from an Ames store when she was 3.
My mom found it when she put my sister in the car. She marched my sister back in the store, and made her give it back to the manager and apologize for taking it without paying for it.
I recall taking a piece of candy from a store when I was around 4 and getting a spanking and made to take it back and apologize.
My parents didn't fool around when it came to stealing
My daughter put a small stuffed toy in her coat pocket at a store when she was about 3. I still don't know how she did it because she was in the cart but she must have waited until I turned my head for a second. At any rate, I found the toy when it fell out of her pocket as I put her in the car.
I took her and the toy back in and made her apologize for taking it. She didn't take anything from stores after that and still remembers the experience pretty vividly.
It was only a $2.99 toy but it's the principle of integrity that counted. I would have made her go back in and return it even if she had taken a 50 cent pack of gum.
Years ago, my sister went to the grocery store and somehow got some items that belonged to the person who left just before her. She drove all the way back to the store and returned the items, she said there was no way she could sleep at night if she didn't.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marie Joseph
I remember my younger sister taking a necklace from an Ames store when she was 3.
My mom found it when she put my sister in the car. She marched my sister back in the store, and made her give it back to the manager and apologize for taking it without paying for it.
I recall taking a piece of candy from a store when I was around 4 and getting a spanking and made to take it back and apologize.
My parents didn't fool around when it came to stealing
My daughter put a small stuffed toy in her coat pocket at a store when she was about 3. I still don't know how she did it because she was in the cart but she must have waited until I turned my head for a second. At any rate, I found the toy when it fell out of her pocket as I put her in the car.
I took her and the toy back in and made her apologize for taking it. She didn't take anything from stores after that and still remembers the experience pretty vividly.
It was only a $2.99 toy but it's the principle of integrity that counted. I would have made her go back in and return it even if she had taken a 50 cent pack of gum.
I had that same thing happen to me as a child - and in this case, the child was too young to understand property and stealing. Just a reminder to the parents to be more watchful.
But when I was a child, maybe 3, I was in a store with my mom and sister and my sister and I each put a candy bar in our coat pockets. When my mom discovered them, she said where did that come from and I said the store. So she marched us back there and made us apologize. My sister was old enough to know better but I was like . . . what? My mom paid for them and took us back home and made a show of throwing the candy bars in the trash. I remember thinking this is weird, mom takes home whole carts of stuff she wants from the store but there's a nuance here I'm somehow missing. I mean. That's where you get stuff you want. From the store.
Then years later we were in the store and I wanted something and my mom said we don't have enough money for that and I said well write a check. Because I thought you just wrote the amount on the check for the item with no further responsibility.
I'm realizing I was slow on the uptake as a child.
My whole point here, is the child doesn't know it's wrong at 2 so there's no punishing lesson to teach. You can certainly instruct the child that when you see something in the store you have to pay money. But there's no point in making it punitive.
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