Community Chat

[RedTop]

Absolutely, and they know it.   When my oldest daughter was a senior, she and a friend signed themselves out of school for the afternoon.   I caught them in town, and escorted them back to school.   I walked my daughter into the principals office, told him what had happened; made it clear it better never happen again, and that I thought 5 days of after school detention appropriate.  

My daughter was a model student, and the principal wanted to push the incident off as a lesson learned, but I insisted on after school detention.  At that time, the front desk in the school office was monitored by students while staff took lunch, and that was known as the perfect time to leave school without being questioned.   Needless to say, that changed after my visit to the school.   

[KingstonsMom]

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@Chrystaltree2 wrote:

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@jubilant wrote:

Remember...... OP specifically used the word crime. 

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       .....which means nothing,   Stealing a $4 bottle of nail polish is crime.  There are countless "crimes" on the books.  If I had a child who committed murder or spousal abuse or molested a child; I would turn my child in.   If my child stole a car or got in a bar fight, I probably wouldn't turn them in.  

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@Chrystaltree2

Obviously, you've never had your car stolen. Try getting off work from an 8 hr. day with another job to go to, or needing to pick up your sick child from daycare to take her to the Dr. and you walk out and your car is just gone and you have no immediate options for transportation.

History shows that all serial killers started out with petty crimes and progressed from there.

There's a reason it's called Grand Theft Auto and it's a felony.

So by your statement if your child stole a car (which would include car-jacking since that's "stealing a car"), as long as he didn't kill them in the process, that's okay with you?

I have no words......

[goldensrbest]

I found outmy oldest was stealing from me,back in the late 80's, i called the police.

[dex]

I would turn my child in..he was always taught accountability.when he was three years old he asked me for money to buy ice cream from the ice cream truck that always seemed to show up at dinner.I told him no and looked out the window to see him purchasing.I asked where he got the money and he said his dad's dresser...oh then that is dads ice cream since it was his money.We will put that in the freezer for his dessert.Lucky for my son that dad was much too full after dinner and gave his treat to him....that boy never took a cent after that without asking and as he got older I told him to help himself to the change on his dad's dresser if needed but he would always call first to let us know.

[kdgn]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

Depends on whether we're talking about stealing a candy bar .... or a very serious crime.

I would like to think that if I knew about something serious, I'd give him the option to turn himself in with an attorney .... or I'd call the police.

Fortunately, this was never an issue.

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It's still stealing and as consumers we end up paying the price. You might not think it's serious but the losses to the store add up. The same goes for a $4 bottle of nail polish. 

Many shop lifters admit that they started off small, got a thrill when they got away with it. It became a game. 

Would I turn my kid in for stealing a candy bar? Probably not but since I knew about it, the thrill wouldn't be there-especially since there would be punishment involved. Depending on my relationship with the store owner I would deal with it. Either way, they'd get their money back. 

As parents we walk a fine line sometimes in attempting to make our kids law abiding citizens-but where is the line drawn? What we may see an a minor offense isn't always so minor in the end, not when profit and losses are taken into account. 

[Plaid Pants2]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

Depends on whether we're talking about stealing a candy bar .... or a very serious crime.

I would like to think that if I knew about something serious, I'd give him the option to turn himself in with an attorney .... or I'd call the police.

Fortunately, this was never an issue.

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I remember when I was about 7 or 8, and my parents and I went grocery shopping. I asked my parents if I could get a candy bar. They said yes. I put it in my pocket fully intending to pay the $0.25 or $0.50, or however much it was when we got to the check out.

Well, after after paying for the groceries, and going back out to our vehicle, I put my hand in my pocket, and there was the unpaid for candy bar.

I exclaimed, "I forgot to pay for this!", thinking that the store police were going to come get me and take me away at any moment.

My mom said, "That's okay, don't worry about it."

Now, technically, I did "steal" it, but not intentionally. My mom knew that. Did it lead me to a life of crime? No, it did not..

[Jordan2]

I want to mention something that happened on the TV show American Crime. If you have not seen last night's episode DO NOT CONTINUE!! If you watch the show you know Taylor bought drugs from the coaches' daughter. Taylor last week shot a student to death. The daughter Becca told her father that she sold drugs to him. The father will not turn her in. He is trying to cover it up for her by destroying her phone and asking who knows about it. His wife I got the impression thinks they should go to the police. Destroying the phone won't help since the phone records can be checked. 

[Mominohio]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

Depends on whether we're talking about stealing a candy bar .... or a very serious crime.

I would like to think that if I knew about something serious, I'd give him the option to turn himself in with an attorney .... or I'd call the police.

Fortunately, this was never an issue.

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Most of it starts with something as simple as stealing a candy bar.