How to stop kids stealing things

[dora96]

Hi,

I have a 8 year old daughter, sometimes, she takes things without asking me. She thinks we are family, it is ok to use anything she wants. Recently, she took some stationary from Church, and caught red handed by the pastor 's assistance. I just feel so bad,  my daughter has everything, toys, cloths, heap of stuffs. I told her off and punished her for her behaviour. Occassionaly, she will forget and do it again. She said everyone steal thing in the school,  kids do it all the time. I am worried I don't know what to do. I have talked to my friends they seem that kids will know eventually and grown out of it. They said punished stealing behaviour and reinforced that stealing is crime. Kids are trying to test their boundaries, what they can do or can't do. However, I am sick to know my kid something like this

[gilad]

Who is your daughter friends with? Kids can often pick up a lot of bad habits from friends?
Maybe you should be speaking to a child psychologist or social worker?
Maybe even a cognitive behavioral therapist.
What she is doing sounds a bit out of the norm. A lot of kids steal here and there.
But not to the point that you're describing in mu opnion.
I think your friends might be being polite. Im not sure.
You should speak to a social worker if you think there's a problem.
and thinking there's a problem might be a better alternative than ignoring it.

[thalberg]

I totally agree with gilad.

And I want to commend you for how seriously you're taking this.  You're absolutely right to take it seriously, because it does sound out of the norm.

I really think, though, that if you persistently look for a solution you will find one.  Just to encourage you, I had major behavioral problems when I was a young child, but I was perfectly behaved from about age 14 onward.  I don't even remember what my parents did, but I guess it worked.

Take a look here:  (The first link is a good article.  Just scroll down from the questions)

https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=children+steal&ei=UTF-8&fr=hp-pvnb