All parents must experience this... the first time they realise their offspring has 'stolen' something. It's not as if a 2 year old understands the concept of stealing, from what I've read online it isn't until they reach the age of about 5 that they grasp the idea of objects belonging to someone. The rules I found below pretty much sum up K's attitude towards possessions at the moment:
Found on Pinterest
It wasn't until I got home from Ikea and looked at my receipt that I noticed the juice carton that I'd given K – to distract her from running about like a loon while I was stuck in a queue – had not been added on at the till. The worst thing is that I had a suspicion that it hadn't been. As I'd produced my card to pay I spotted K at the end of the checkout, drink in hand, but had the woman at the till noticed it? Being flustered I just paid and forgot about it. Twenty minutes of shuffling along in a queue for meatballs while making sporadic dashes after a toddler can break a woman. So there, I blame you Ikea for not having enough staff on*
The only time I've ever shoplifted (not counting the times I used to shove packets of crisps into the huge old, white handbag that I used to carry - my Mum used to rescue those as we approached the checkout so technically it wasn't stealing) was when I was about 6 and on the monthly shop to Bejams and Sainsburys. I selected a Fry's Turkish delight in its fabulously garish purple wrapper and hid it until we got to the car. On the journey home I turned to face the parcel shelf (this was before you had to wear seatbelts in the back) and scoffed it, knowing full well that what I was doing was wrong. I still feel guilty now when I see a Turkish delight.
Have you ever noticed that your little one had 'acquired' something when you got home from the shops? How do you handle it?
*Not true at all. I still feel bad but not quite 'Turkish delight' bad. I'll be buying some furniture there soon so that might ease the guilt.
