My Son the Shoplifter

[pageta]

So we were in Walmart today. I hate making trips to town because they wear me out and it was our last stop. I found a crochet hook that I needed to finish some soaker and ds wanted to hold it so I let him. I got many other various and assundry items (tp, sportwash, etc.) and headed for the checkout. I put everything on the belt and paid for it. Then we went out to the car where I put everything in the trunk. Then I went to get ds out of the shopping car. He was still holding the crochet hook! No alarms went off or anything when we went out. I guess they didn't have the special deal on a $1.28 crochet hook. I was tired, it was hot, I had cold groceries, and we were quite a ways from home so I just left. If he had been older, I would have gone back in with it so he could learn a lesson about shoplifting, but at 10 months he wouldn't have a clue.

This was so completely innocent. Please tell me I'm not the only one this has happened to. Has anyone else's child inadvertantly stolen something? I am so mortified!

[Piglet68]

Oh gosh no. I still remember "shoplifting" a bundle of lollypops when I was a child. It was partly by accident. I had been playing with them, put them in my pocket and forgot about them.

The best thing to do is take your son back one day and have a chat with a manager or someone kindly explaining to your son what shoplifting is, etc. Make it educational, not punitive. Obviously your son can't have any understanding of what he did, being so young!

(oh, just did the math again and realized your son isn't even a year old! i would just not bother with it, or you might want to bring it back and "confess", i'm sure no-one will bother you about it - your son is just a baby)

[nikirj]

Haha heck no. My DD once was sitting in the basket-part of the cart (at 3yo) and was playing with the diaper bag and some of her toys. When we got to the checkout the bag was all re-packed and I'd forgotten she'd ever had it open - I was missing a couple of things but assumed they'd been redeposited on the shelves by DD (she does that sometimes). The alarms didn't go off or anything - it wasn't until the next day when I was getting ready to leave that I found some shampoo, deodorant, and soap in the bag. I felt like it was too late to bring it back at that point without it becoming a problem (and DD had no idea what she was doing at the time, I'm sure) but I always kept a better eye on the bag after that.

[neveryoumindthere]

at 1st i felt bad but then i saw he's 10 months old! my dd wouldnt let go of a candy bar dh put in the cart at checkout the other day so we scanned a different one ..lol how would i possibly reason with her.?..i guess next time you make a trip you could give 1.28 extra and tell them to keep the change ?

sorry but i think it's cute cuz i can picture a little baby looking up at u while u tell him how wrong it is to 'steal'

[mamaduck]

You could save the wrapper with the bar code on it. Stick it in your purse and keep it with you. The next time you are at Walmart tell them that you were "accidentally not charged for the item" on your last trip and ask them to scan it and add it to your order.

[matts_mamamama]

LOL. My son stole a small can of mushrooms when he was about 7 months old. We gave it to him to keep him occupied...oops! Gotta start em early!!

[wednesday]

If it were me I probably wouldn't take it back. I read a story on another message board where someone took their small child back into the store to return candy to the manager in order to "teach a lesson" and the manager was a total a$$-hole who said he had to call the police because of their zero tolerance policy. I don't remember any more of the story but I can totally see how some people would act that way. I wouldn't risk it.

[andreac]

Me...the Shoplifter!

I can't even blame this one on my son

I was in H&M (a dept store) and had picked up a few things, but saw the huge check out line and decided not to get any of them. I thought I put everything back, but when we were on the subway on the way home, I noticed a baseball hat I had slung over the handle of the stroller and completely forgotten about!! It was on clearance for $1.50 so I didn't bother to go back...oops I always laugh when he wears it!

[Mothra]

My son did this once, that I know of, when he was about 18mos. It was at Wal-Mart, it was a small stuffed toy, and somehow we didn't notice that he had it. We did take it back in, but only because my brother worked there. We were about halfway to my parent's house when we realized it, and our ice cream was ruined!

[shotar]

Oh no, at that age far too young to understand. This should be addressed when the child is old enough to understand right from wrong and the concept of not being able to have what does not belong to them.

[Summit]

At that age, they just grab stuff. They don't understand why that it is wrong nor can it be explained at that age. Just keep a closer eye.

Originally Posted by mamaduck

You could save the wrapper with the bar code on it. Stick it in your purse and keep it with you. The next time you are at Walmart tell them that you were "accidentally not charged for the item" on your last trip and ask them to scan it and add it to your order.

That is a morally acceptable solution.

[Irishmommy]

Dd did it on Sunday!! We were in a toy store an hour from home and she was playing with the playmobil table set up. She showed me a dog whose head moved, she thought it was cool. Then when we got home she produced it. I swear I only took my eye off her for a few seconds. She told me she got it in her room. Needless to say, I took it from her.

[noodle4u]

Not me but a freind,

Had her ds (bout 18mos) in a shopping cart and was puting trying out various sandles, she had a different pair on each foot, then did some browsing, decided she didnt want any shoes for him, went through checkout to pay for all her stuff, meanwhile her ds is swinging his feet waving these pairs of sandles stuck to his feet. She gets to the car, and notices
She decided not to go back, it was far, the day had been long, they were both hungry and tired. so he got two new pair of sandles.

[iris0110]

When Ds was 4 months old we went to a chinese restraunt for lunch. He was just hanging out in his carseat while we ate and he started to get fussy. So I gave him a soup spoon to keep himself busy. We left a little bit later, and as he was no longer holding the spoon I didn't think any thing of it (figured he had tossed it on the floor). When we got home and I got him out of his seat the spoon was there. He must have dropped. Well I never did bother to take it back, but flash forward a year and at 1 1/2 Ds is sitting in a boot at the Italian restraunt. He was sitting next to my mom and bouncing up and down in the booth. While we all ate he munched on some pizza and played with some silverware. Well at some point he must have dropped a butter knife in my mom's purse because when we got home there it was. So basically my son is a silverware theif. Luckily he hasn't done it since and I am certain both times were accidents. But it is funny the little things that babies pickup and accidentally bring home.

[mamaduck]

Yeah -- we went to my SIL's fancy wedding reception. Ours were the only kids invited. They were about 1 and 4.5 at the time. Got home and found our diaper bag had some peices of new peices of silverware stowed away in it!

[Graceoc]

DD just did this the other day....DH took her shoping with him and she sits on the lower car part of the cart (you know those car carts I am talking about?) anyway I get home and am putting away the groceries and there is a thing of deoderant - not my kind, and not on the list. So I ask DH about it and he said DD had grabbed it and he didn't realize it until all the groceries were packed into the van and he was locking DD in her seat and she was holding. IT was late at night and he wasn't up for taking a tired almost 2 year old back into the store...couldn't blame the guy

[girlsaplenty]

I was afraid to return the item to Wal-Mart

Last summer my then-2-year-old picked up a pair of sunglasses from Wal-Mart. I didn't see her clutching them until we were in the parking lot and I went to buckle her into the carseat. No alarms went off, and no one noticed. The sunglasses were priced at $5 or $6.

I was afraid to take them back into the store. I had just paid for $40 of stuff, and it was a huge hassle, with things ringing up at the wrong price, a cashier with a crummy attitude -- everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I feared that if I went back in and tried to give the glasses back, they store manager would accuse me of shoplifting.

We went home, with the glasses. As I was unloading the van, a police car came around the corner and parked across the street from my house. I thought, oh no, Wal-Mart called the cops on me! The officer just sat there for 10 minutes shuffling papers, and then drove away. Apparently he wasn't interested in me -- he just wanted a shady spot for catching up on paperwork.

After my heart resumed beating, I tossed the sunglasses into the almost full "donate box," and gave them to the farmworker mission.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart anymore.

[Marsupialmom]

At 18 I walked out of a store with $200 dollars worth of goods (this was when the beeper things were still new and the store did not have them). I ran into an old friend that I had not seen in years. Walked out and to my dorm room before I realized I did not pay for them. I walked back and paid for them. The manager gave me a discount because of my honesty.

At that age it is not stealing, IMO. I would put the bar code in my purse and pay for it the next time you go. Even though your child does not understand what happen you are setting a good example.. You are behaving how you want your child to.