How do I handle my 9 years old son taking things from the stores?

Question

how do I handle my 9 years old son taking things from the stores?

How do I deal with him? My 9 years old son who every now and then takes things from the store while we shopping. He has a lot of toys at home. He knows that it's wrong to take things without paying for it. He has done that 2 times before and He got in trouble for doing that from us. We talked to him, threated him. He got scared but how come he did it again?

Answer 1

You call the police and have THEM take him back to the stores to return the things that he steals.  He needs to learn that there are consequences to his actions.  You've not made him be responsible for his actions you have allowed him to "slide" with just disciplining him at home.  Stealing is against the law.  He needs to find that out for himself.  

Answer 2

because you didn't beat his ***.

seriously, if kids know they just get a talking to for behaving bad they will do it again.

spanking is good. grow a pair and show him who's boss

Answer 3

dont take him to the store

Answer 4

Make him take it back and say sorry to the cashier or manager.  

Answer 5

take him back to the store he took it from and make him tell them what he did.  maybe they will let him work for free like sweep and dust shelves or something like that.  maybe that will wake him up to stealing things.

Answer 6

Ground him AND make him go back to the store and return the item or pay for the item with his money.  If it continues, ground him even longer and longer, etc.  IMO, the main thing is to make him return the item to the store himself and have him apologize to the manager.

Answer 7

Tell him that the police will get him if he keeps doing that.  Teach him that if he gets away once, he will dare to try it the second time.  And many times after that.  Eventually he will end up in big trouble, like in jail.  Giving him books about real life in jail will help.  Here is one that my son loves.  

Book: Five Years to Life.  By Dr. Sam Huddleston.

After reading the book my son talks to me about how foolish it is to break the law by stealing, using drugs, drinking and driving, etc.  The prevention shot works better than I expected.

Spanking properly helps.  Clearly tell him the consequence.  If he does it again, do it as you said.  However, do it in private.  You don't want to hurt his dignity by letting others see the punishment.

The book about spanking properly and discipline is:

Dare to Discipline, by Dr. James Dobson

However, I need to point out that age 9 is close to the threshold age of spanking.  Never spank a teenager since it humiliates him and leads to no good result.

Answer 8

let him get caught, he probably wont steal ever again

Answer 9

Make him take the items back, apologize to store security and pay for them out of his allowance.

Answer 10

if you catch him make him... take him back and say he stole... does he have an allowance or a way of making money (doing things around the house)  let him earn some money and let him buy something with his own money...

just some ideas..

Answer 11

apparantly you dont beleive in corporal punishment,  since i do if he was my child, i'd buss his ***, n then make him take it back and apologize.  

Answer 12

take everything he has

help?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 13

When I worked in retail, parents were always bringing a child in and making them pay for something they took.  And they made a big deal out of it  -making the kid apologize for stealing.  Maybe you could shame him like that.  

Answer 14

I'm sure you could go down to the station and have some cops scare him a little bit.

Answer 15

My daughter did this once and i found out when we got to the car.  I pulled in front of the store and told her to get out of the car and take it back in and ask for the manager.  well you can imagine the tears starting to form.   SHe was scared to death.  I told her it was her responsibility to take it back.  When she starting crying too hard, I took the item back myself and went inside.  ( OK well it was a little thing from the machine on the way out, she reached up and grabbed it out LOL).  

I ' acted" like i took it back in.  But I set it on top of the machine.  ( she thought I gave it back to the manager, she was in the car with her sisters).

She learned a big lesson that day in being honest.  Never have I had another problem.  LOL.  IN fact that was 4 years ago and the other day she found a cell phone outside a store and she took it to the cashier.. I was so proud of her.

** Bottom line, when you know he took something, Make him take it back in and tell someone he took it*** It will make him honest. DO NOT let him keep it.  He will know he got away with it and do it again.

Answer 16

I would make him keep his hands in his pockets or behind his back. If you catch him with anything- go back to the store and make him apologize to the manager. I guarantee after being scolded a few times by a big adult man at the store or security might scare him enough to make sure he doesn't do it again.

Don't let him come. Have him stay behind with a babysitter or someone until he can learn not to steal or don't buy him anything else until he stops.  

Answer 17

The suggestions above are good so I will only add one.  Take him to the police station.  Tell them he has done it before and you want to prevent it from happening again.  They will have a very stern talk with him (obviously the talk you gave didn't work).  They may even show him the cells and explain that's where you go when you steal (they can only do this if no one is in them).  

When you go into a store, show him the security camera and screen, explain that someone who works there can see that he is stealing and that they might call the police.  He needs to know that stealing leads to more than just trouble with mom and dad.

Answer 18

Ground him whenever he does it, simple. Take away EVERYTHING. Every time he does it do it longer. If that doesn't teach him maybe he has a mental disorder for taking things.