How to deal with a seven year old who is stealing?

Question

My grand daughter was born with a serious heart defect. She's been through several surgeries.
Lately, she has taken to stealing from her classmates, her grades have dropped, and everytime her Mom asks her to do anything, she backtalks, screams and cries.
Her Mom is at her wit's end...and so is Grandma!
Can you help??

Answer 1

make her return all the things back to her classmates. then take the time to sit down with her and help her with her home work. make it fun and do it with a smile on your face. act like you are having the time of your life. make a game out of it. when she gets good grades or her grades go up reward her with a dollar or a special treat some thing you know she will love. As for the back talk she is doing that to get her mothers attention. when she does it ignore her. pretend like you did not hear her. act like you are looking for something and if she is looking at you say have you seen my good little girl ? i just saw her? that worked with my mom when i used to act up. As for having her do things like clean up or what not. tell her that if she keeps doing these things all week she will get an allowance or again something specail. good luck and remeber the worse thing you can do is give up.

Answer 2

The backtalking is natural for a 7 yr old. Do not let her rough medical history get in the way of much needed discipline!
Both my daughter and my son tried stealing once - ONCE!!! I made them take it directly back to the person they took it from and tell them and everyone around that they stole it and was sorry! I explained to them that stealing is illegal and the next time the person has every right to call the police. They have never done it again!
You let her get away with this behavior now, it will only get worse, especially when she's a teenager!

Answer 3

I don't mean to be rude.. but my guess would be that the child is seriously spoiled. having a child with a disability is hard. You feel like a heel for punishing them (my son is blind so I do understand). The thing about it is that they get it in their head that they're so special that they can do whatever they want without serious consenquences.
Only one of my kids stole something once. He was 5 and I caught him in the parking lot. I marched his butt back in there and made him return it and told him in front of the woman what happens to thiefs. Then I put on this whole thing about, "I can't trust you!!!" for several days, just really laid it on thick like checking his back pack and stuff 'to make sure he didn't steal anything'. He hasn't stolen anything since then, 9 years ago.
Sounds harsh but it worked, try it.

Answer 4

I suspect that she is out of control because the family is using her condition as an excuse to not get down hard on her. She is only going to get worse if you don't stop her NOW! Make her return whatever she steals in front of the whole class. Have a set time for homework and sit there with her until she is done ( no matter how long she drags it out). Time out or losing privileges is good if she back talks, screams or cries to get her way... She is not going to keel over and die because you discipline her. It's all of yours job to raise a decent human being, so far you aren't doing so good but she is young .

Answer 5

Look this child is counting on you not punishing her after all who punishes a sick kid but in this case I think you do. Normally in my house stealing is a spanking offense however I am sure it is not a option for her but returning stolen items, saying a sincere apology, Yes!!! A loss of privileges and items for backtalking, screaming etc usually works for all ages and isnt physically harmful.
I think that her heart doctor would advise you to treat her the same as you would any other child in matters of discipline.

Answer 6

Apparently I was a bit light-fingered as a kid too! My mother rectified it by taking a few of my toys and 'giving' them to the children I had stole from. It worked. She never really gave them away, but just kept them out of reach until I learned that using without permission isn't acceptable.

For a child though, it's something that needs to be taught.

Answer 7

I would suggest talking to a professional counsiller.

There has to be something that has made her upset. Maybe something has happened at school.

Again this is the age some children start to rebel.

I would suggest talking with a professional just to see if they can get to the bottom of it.

And keep talking to her trying to find out what is bothering her, it has to be something.

Answer 8

Sounds like this child has been allowed to become spoiled because of her medical history...Not a good thing. Even kids with disabilities need to be disciplined...this is the result when they're not.

Answer 9

if your seven year old is stealing then stop it before it is too late. when your kid steals again take him back to the store he stole from and make him return whatever it was even if it was a 5 cent candy make him return it to the manager that should teach him a lesson.

Answer 10

Have her speak with the school counselor. It sounds like something might be going on that is troubling her. It may be something she dosn't want to talk to mom or grandma about. Good luck.