how do you deal with a child who has a habit of stealing?

Answer 1

You "steal" everything he has and take him with you to give his stuff to the salvation army. And then you make him do chores for a couple of weeks and give him a suitable allowance, and when he buys something with that allowance you steal that and give it away too. Don't do it for months at a time, but a couple of weeks of this will give him the victims point of view on stealing.

Answer 2

Its a hard question cause each child does it for a different reason. Some do it because they are looking for attention while others do it for no explainable reason other then they wanted whatever they took. My daughter falls into the second one. From what i can tell her taking things had been going on for quite awhile until we got a call from the local store one day. the manager explained to us she was caught taking a chocolate bar and his form of dealing with it was very good. She was banned from the store for a month and every day after school for a week she had to go help out in the store picking up garbage and doing other jobs. I also took her and let the school cop talk to her and explain what could happen if she continued doing it. And she was only 9 at the time. I know some people will say that they started taking there childs stuff in return so they could see how it felt to have someone steal from them but I dont agree because in a sense you are doing exactly what you are telling your child NOT to do. Theres no easy answer because each child is different and there reasoning's for doing it are not the same. Hope this helped! Good luck and feel free to email me!

Answer 3

they need to understand the whole "would you like it if this happened to you?" scenario, at first take something of theirs that is important to them, once they realize it is gone and panic it will teach them what it feels like to have something important stolen from them, enforcement works better if they experience the situation with just a lecture they can go "yes yes" and still have the urge to take things but this way they will think about what it felt like.
Then sit down and talk to them about it, ask them about questions about how it made them feel and that that is how other people feel. Teach them how some things hold sentimental value how maybe their grandma gave them this gift and passed away and how special it was, or how some people are not very fortunate to have many gifts because their parents are not very rich so it means a lot to them.
You need to make them understand the guilt behind it and the upset it causes others, also ask them why they steal, there may be a problem behind it maybe something happening at school or maybe they feel a bit neglected. Maybe even take them to a therapist.
Goodluck

Answer 4

You have to ask yourself "Why would my child have this 'habit' in the first place?" When you get down to addressing the heart of the habit and help that issue, the stealing may end altogether.

Answer 5

Let the child no that it is NOT okay. When they do the crime, they need to pay the time, as cliche as it must seem. Make the child bring the item back and apologize rather than doing it yourself. Punish them severly and don't back down.

Answer 6

if you child gets caught stealing talk to the manger of the store then take him/her to the store and make her tell them taht she stole something from there store have the manger make a big deal about it that should scare them without it going to far.

Answer 7

If you make him give it back, that wont help when your not around. Take away something that he loves. Actually, tell him/her that you are going to "steal" something from him/her and not give it back. Then while he/she is crying he/she will relize that stealing is bad and that is what people feel like when they steal form them.

Answer 8

depends how old the child is if hes less than 6 its just a stage and hell get over it but if hes older than 8 or so then you need to discipline him

Answer 9

When my son stole some candy from the store I made him go right back inside and talk to the cashier about how he stole from them. The cashier played along and now he hasn't done it since.

Answer 10

I used to steal but not anymore, my dad gave me discipline, he beated me, and he told me some sort of threats of doing it. He would tell me stories what happen if He stole my stuff or stories what happen to others when they stole stuff.