My 8 year old sneaked medicine. What is the appropriate consequence?

Question

My 8 year old daughter takes non-prescription Claritin (one pill a day) for allergies. She knows where the medicine is and I supervise her taking it each evening. We've talked about the dosing and how she is to take ONE pill a day. Well, today she sneaked the bottle into her backpack and brought it to school. She had taken it last night and she took some at lunchtime and some at about 2 pm, before she was caught. So, she had three doses in a 24 hr period. I called poison control and she seems to be OK, physically, but I don't know what the appropriate consequence should be for her actions. I already sat her down and had a talk about how sad I was that she chose to make that decision and reiterated how taking too much medicine is DANGEROUS and could make her die. I have also put all the medicine in the house away where she can't get to it. Now what? What should her consequence be? What will keep her from doing something like this again? Please help!

Answer 1

I think you handled it well. Her thinking was perfectly logical for a child her age. I'd just keep the medicine cabinet locked up for now.

Answer 2

take her the er and have her tummy pumped she will never want do that again.

Answer 3

What you can do is keep the medicine in your room or put in a spot where she cannot get a hold of it. Also have her read the instructions of the medicine, and tell her the possible causes of over-dose.  

IF possible, see if you can put her on prescription allergy medicine, and most pharmacys will tell the side effects, and what could happen if someone over takes the medicine.

Answer 4

I know this might sound really dumb but I don't think you should give her a consequence. She is only 8 years old. She had no idea what she was doing, at that age kids usually think medicine is candy. What I suggest is a lecture and for you to safely hide the medicine so she doesn't go about sneaking one again. Perhaps in a medicine cabinet or a high place where she cannot reach. Hope this helped =)

Answer 5

If i did that my mom would WHOOP MY BUTT you better put your feelings aside and take out that belt!! and its not harsh becuase if my mom wouldn't have spanked me when i was younger i would have gotten into so much more trouble when i was younger... and im only 15 lol and im still afraid of getting in trouble lol

Answer 6

Despite all the encouragement you're getting to resort to drastic punishments, I think that you've already done the right thing- you moved the medicine so this won't happen again, and you spoke to her about your feelings and the hard facts about what could have happened to her.  If your daughter is a typical, moderately responsible 8-year-old, she probably understood what you were trying to explain to her.  The only thing that worries me is that you said you "think" she took it to try to clear up her stuffiness- is that what you think, or is that what she told you?  If that really was her reason, then I would just let it go.  But if that's not what she told you, then you need to talk to her more and possibly take further action to figure out why she did it.  You don't want to assume it was for an innocent reason only to find out later that it was the start of a bigger problem.

Answer 7

She might want to comit suicide, so she's trying to overdose. She could be addicted to the pills too. I suggest you hide the pills and you give her the pills, when she has to take them.

Answer 8

Wow at 8 years old. I would first aviod over reacting because if she would do it again, she may aviod telling you or be sneakier... and you need to know this! I would go online and find some pictures of sick kids and show her and say "this is was poison does to you. If you take more medicine, you can be posioned. I am SO glad that you are ok." I mean find awful pictures of sick kids... ones that make her want to cry.

I think that would be the best to help her understand that it is not only about sneaking, but about the medicine. Tell her that the medicine is now locked up and hidden because you want to keep her safe and you dont' trust her to keep herself safe right now.

I would stress strongly about what COULD have happened about what over medicating can do. Once she understands that it is dangerous and you were scared, not mad. Once she is educated about WHY, than I would casually look at her and say 'Oh, you did sneak too. You owe me 5 chores and if I find you sneaking again, there will be a bigger punishment'.

I would make that last part short and sweet because the point to drive home here is about educating her about medication. If you focus on the sneaking too much, than this learning opporrtunity will be gone.

Answer 9

I would say to take a priviledge away .. she had no right to take the meds ... and if she took them to school she's lucky she wasn't expelled .. most schools now have a zero tolerance for drugs .. (all drugs).  

She needs to know the seriousness of this and sometimes talking doesn't always work.

Answer 10

You may be able to have her call poison control and have them explain what could happen.  This should give her a wake up call on how serious it is because it's not coming from mom/dad...it's coming from a 3rd party.  Also, I would choose something to take away from her for a week or so, or not let her attend an event you had previously promised her.  Let her know you are serious that this type of behavior is intolerable.

Answer 11

Explain to her she shouldn't have done it without your permission, and explain that having more than she's supposted to would make her fell even worse! She probably didn't get what could happen if she had too much.  Also, keep the bottle hidden and only let her have it when she should take it.

Answer 12

If she's feeling that miserable despite the medicine, you should take her to the doctor and see if he recommends something a bit stronger (or maybe just something different). Poor little soul - I can imagine how desperate she's feeling if she's allergic the whole time. No punishment this time - just the strict talking-to, and go get her on something that works for her!

Answer 13

She isn't old enough to have access to meds.  You need to put the meds where she can't get to them and let her know from now on you will give her the meds and she isn't allowed access.  You may want to consider councling to find out what is going on and why she would take the meds like that, there may be a problem your not seeing emotionally or mentally.

Answer 14

Depends.  Is this the first time she has done this? If it is then I think you have done enough.  If it isn't then you need to take further steps.  It's easy to say lock up the meds, but unless you get a lockbox with a key, there's really no where in the house that you can put this that a semi-determined 8-year old can't get to them.  Plus, she really needs to learn and understand for herself why this is a REALLY bad thing to do.  By 8 she is old enough to understand the concept of death pretty well.  Talk about Heath Ledger, if she knows who that is.  If not, give her some other concrete examples of what can happen.

Answer 15

You have done a good start . Over all take away her favorite thing, or ground her. Give her extra chores around the house. Just some thought. Have her talk to a school counselor as well. Maybe there is another reason behind taking extra pills.

Answer 16

she's only eight. she knows nothing about using prescription to get high and i doubt if she is peddling drugs for someone else. she's sick. i know bec i suffer from bad allergies  and sinus. but mom i would take her to the pediatrician and see if they can prescribe something that will work. dont be too hard  on her she may even forgot that she had previously  taken the others. i hope everything works out

Answer 17

If your child puts herself in danger a good old-fashioned spanking is called for.

It might not be what you want to hear, but I rather have

a child with a sore backside than well you know.

Answer 18

You know, I have to admit I'm kind of confused.  My feeling is that a 2 year old would take medicine because he doesn't know what he's doing.  But why would an 8 year old take medicine that she is not supposed to?  It tastes lousy, accomplishes nothing.  Too much Claritin might make her feel sleepy but not high.  I really don't understand it.  Do you think maybe she was selling it to someone who didn't care what it was that he was buying?  I'm really confused, and as such, I can't suggest consequences.  I'm not sure this is a punishable crime.  i just don't understand what she was trying to accomplish, and you ought to find out before you decide on the next step.

Edit:  Well, your edit tells us why she did it, and that was what I wanted to know.  So you have to explain to her that it's dangerous to take more medicine than you're supposed to take, and you did that.  I don't think she should be punished, because she didn't do something on purpose to misbehave.  She just didn't know.  I do think that maybe you should keep medicines hidden until you're sure she understands, but I certainly wouldn't punish her.

Answer 19

I'm so glad she's okay!   She sounds a lot like my daughter.  She does things without thinking.

Wen my daughter was younger she ate about half a bottle of tylenol.   ick    

Your daughter did it thinking she would be better and mine did it just because but they both did it without thinking about consequences.  

You really need to lock all the medications up until she's more mature.   It's just not worth the risk.  

I really wouldn't punish her as she didn't do it to be naughty.  She thought she was being good.

Answer 20

it should be swift and harsh.beside becoming sick or taking to much she could get thrown out of school.these schools have a zero tolerance.i read one girl was expelled for giving someone a tylenol and they were in hs

Answer 21

Your family problems go way beyond stealing a little claritin.  I STRONGLY suggest that you get the child, any others in the family, and all involved adults into therapy; you'll need to have individual and family sessions.

  Meanwhile...stop overreacting.  Don't tell a kid that he or she can die from taking a few extra doses of a benign medication lake loratadine (the active ingredient in claritin)...she'll be drowsy and get less than restful sleep that night, but she's not going to die from that.  Kids KNOW when you are full of ****.

  Next...look into the family dynamics that make her feel that she needs to steal from you.  Is she undervalued in the family?  Emotionally or verbally abused?  You probably won't be able to make an accurate assessment of this.  However, I'll bet you also find spare change missing...maybe snack food too?  Since you are certain that she took the pills herself, instead of giving them to a less fortunate friend or trading them for something, it is a self esteem issue traceable back to poor parenting.  It could be equally likely that an older kid is grooming her to transport drugs, but you are certain that she took them herself.

As far as consequences...no, she shouldn't steal.  So keep the drugs, money, and so on under lock and key.  Hold off on consequences for now.  The lock will stop her from doing it again.  She'll be punished enough when a social worker or other therapist gets her to tell you why she feels so worthless that she needs to steal.

Answer 22

Ground her! No T.V, comuter, radio, or anything she loves. Also my mom would have givin me a butt whoopin for that...but moms now-a-days think that's "politically incorrect" or whatever so yeah....

Answer 23

I think having a stern serious talk with her was good and from now on keep those pills locked up safely or at least where she can't find them.

I would also speak to the doctor if you don't feel the pills are helping her enough, maybe she could try something else like Singular or Zyrtec. Maybe a prescription nasal spray to clear her up during the day.