My son just stole some clothes from the mall!! I'm going to make him walk back naked to teach him a lesson!!

Question

My son and his little no good friends went up to the mall and stole an outfit!! I was outraged. I have raised my son better then that, and I give him everything that he asks for. I will not put up with a stealing in my home. I told my son that since he thinks he is big and bad enough to go up to the mall stealing, he is going to be big and bad enough to return it butt naked.
I don't care if it is 25 degrees here in Michigan, nor do I care if the mall is 5 miles away. My son needs to learn a lesson. Why shouldn't I make my son walk back to the mall naked to return the outfit that he stole??

Answer 1

I don't think "naked" is the answer. Yes - I do think consequences are in order. Returning the merchandise, writing an apology letter, bringing him to the police station and having them talk to him, community service etc.
Sending him down the street naked - NO! God forbid some child molester abducts him - you'd never forgive yourself.
We all did stupid things as kids. Don't take this so personally. It's nothing you have done wrong as a parent. Good luck!!

Answer 2

WOW!!! How old is your son? Doesn't really matter. If I was your neighbor and saw you do this or had knowledge of you doing this, the first thing Id do is call children's protective services! This act is called child abuse and child endangerment.
HUMILIATING your son doesn't seem to be the right way to approach this. I'm sure your ranting and raving has scared him enough at this point.
What I'm curious about is the reason why he went and stole clothes in the first place. These types of behaviors are usually a cry for help/attention. Do you react like this over everything he does? I suggest that if you cant make a "rational" decision on how to handle this properly, you might want to call the school counselor/pastor....or simply look at the reactions of the others here!! Good luck to you...especially to your son.

I just went and read this persons other questions. I was shocked!!!!!
I think this person is totally INSANE or a FRAUD (kid messing around). I think if someone here knows how to report this person, that action should take place. I'm on board if any one else is.
Seems like there are good decent sincere people here and this person is wasting every ones time!

GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOU

Answer 3

First off I agree that if he stole it, he should return it. But the naked thing, wouldn't be such a good idea, in my state public nudity is against the law. I am a parent myself and when I was 5, I stole a candy lipstick that was on the floor of a supermarket. Mom was very observant and asked where I got it. To make a long story short, she marched my back to the store, and made me go to the counter and explain to the clerk that I stole a candy and that I would like to pay for it. Lesson learned, I never forgot it and never stole again. As much as we think it's not our place, maybe you should march him back to the store, or security office in the mall and make him applogize and pay for the outfit. If they press charges or he gets banned from that place, make sure you support the decision! Never give up on him. By making him walk naked back to the mall will only make him resent you more and he will rebell. Then make sure you sit down and discuss the situation and how your both going to handle the punishment at home.
Red

Answer 4

I think that walking back naked is a little extreme. I think that you should go with him and make him take back what he stole and make him apologize and explain that he STOLE them. That should be embarassment enough. Plus, a lot of malls (like the one I used to work at) will take a picture of anyone that steals and post it in the stores so that when he goes into the store again they will watch him closely and he will always know that there is someone watching and he can't get away with it again.

Answer 5

Making him walk to the mall naked may get him arrested. Instead turn him in. I know at walmart if you are caught stealing you will get a 1 year ban from the store and arrested for tresspassing if you go on the property. You can go to the local police station and ask an officer to have a chat. They always enjoy those sort of things : )

Answer 6

Making your son walk naked back to the mall in any kind of weather is totally BIZARRE!!!! Having your son return the clothing he stole is NOT!!!! Having your son return the clothing will be a humiliating lesson in itself, but he has to step up to base & be responsible for his actions. To even consider making him walk naked to the mall will cause him more problems, with the law, unless you don't mind going to the police department & bailing him out of jail for public indecency.

Answer 7

As funny as that sounds i really don't think that going to solve the problem. Soon as he knows he can walk around naked then that will be another problem. Most kids do things because of needs and wants, and others time because there friends are doing it. Remember mom we would kids to. So maybe you should sit down and talk to him and let him know it doesn't have to steal if he wanted something he should know that he can come to you and if you can you will try your best to get it for him. But also let him know with this type of behavior some of his things will be taken for a while. And if all that doesn't work it's time for an old fashion beat down than maybe he might get the picture.

Answer 8

A little bit of a over reaction on your part I think. Should you bring him there and have him return the clothes, YES. Should he maybe volunteer a few hours in the store for the value of the clothes, YES. But walking through the neighborhood naked sounds like you should maybe step back and realize that he's a kid and we all make bad decisions in life. The worst decision you can make is have him walk naked to the mall. RELAX!!!

Answer 9

He is humiliated enough that you caught him, to make him walk back naked is only heap abuse on humiliation.

The classic response to this is to make the boy apologize and to offer to work for the storeowner until he has paid for his mistake. If you don't want to go that route (or you don't trust him) then you need to assign him some extra chores as penance. Having him sweep the sidewalk on your block might be a good idea, but I would prefer using his manpower at home.

Then you need to lecture him on the problems that he is causing. "How do you think the store pays for those pants? The people who made those clothes aren't going to pay for it, so it is up to the store to pay for it. The way that they pay for it is by passing the cost on to customers. Which means that I have to pay for your theft, as well as (name the parents of some friends of his). Then when the prices get too much at the store people can't afford to buy anything so the store has to close. That puts the storeowner and the people who work for him out of work. Also since the mall doesn't get any more rent from that person they have to charge the other stores in the mall a higher rent. Those stores just pass the cost on to their customers. Yes, it sounds like stealing a pair of pants is something so minor, but you need to look at what happens to others whenever you do something."

Making him walk back to the mall naked is illegal, and he will probably just stop and put the pants on. Even if you follow him to make sure he doesn't he is going to resent you for doing this to him. Resent like that turns into hate. Forcing a child to walk nude in public is just plain child abuse and your son could be taken away from you for it.

So get mad, punish him, humiliate him by having him return the clothes and apologize not only to the storeowner, but to everyone else in the store. However, explain what you are doing and why before you do it. You might even want to repeat your lecture to him in the store, and ask the store manager what he thinks. If he is an adult then he will agree with you.

Then you need to have your son tell the parents of the other boys what he and his friends did. You need to be there when he does it so YOU get the blame, from the children, not your son. If his friends have decent friends then they are going to want to punish their children as well. Pier pressure is pretty tough. You son may not have stole those pants if his friends hadn't egged him on. So they have to be taught a lesson as well, and you can't punish them and making your son stay away from his friends is only going to hurt him and give him a reason to disobey you. If you and the other children's parents make a big enough stink about this the next time something like comes up the entire group is going to think that it is a bad idea. That's the final lesson you want to teach these kids.

When you talk with the parents make sure to tell them what you did, or they may go overboard in their punishments on their children. Don't say, "I think you should do this..." Instead say, "I made my son do this... its a lesson I don't think he will forget."

Answer 10

i'm newly married and that i'll in certain circumstances walk around the position of residing bare precise earlier or after a bath. oftentimes that takes position when I've forgotten some component or if i might want to wish to ask her about some component. of direction, I continuously be effective that there aren't any further any residing house abode windows open or some thing, and my better 1/2 does no longer seem to have any problems with it. i do not have a puritanical view of nudity, yet hardly do i imagine the urge to easily sit around the position of residing all day bare both. If I did notwithstanding, i'm effective that my better 1/2 would haven't any difficulty with it. i in my opinion see no longer some thing in any appreciate incorrect with it. in case you want being nude then you surely want being nude. perchance your bf develop into raised with puritan values that nudity is faulty or shameful and unacceptable even in a kinfolk individuals putting. i in my opinion develop into raised that way and believed it for a strong area of my life, yet finally rejected. for the era of that component as well the straightforward incontrovertible actuality that, i'd have felt very uncomfortable if someone of both sex develop into strolling round bare everywhere close to to me. as far as i'm in contact, nudity interior the kinfolk individuals unit (alongside with the residing house proprietor's SO) is okay, as long as there is not any longer some thing irrelevant taking position. therefore, i do not see how there probable should be some thing irrelevant taking position, so it somewhat is effective.