Neighborhood thievery - what to do?
So........the newest little neighbor girl took a quarter out of our bathroom and held it up for all to see claiming she had found it on the way over - unfortunately for her it was a Canadian quarter and so recognizable as the one that had been on our bathroom counter (Rexy was using it for play money - sorry Canadian friends). It happened while I was at the store and my DH was in the backyard with Rexy, the 7yo from next door and the 6yo in question from 2 doors down. DH said he could tell something was up because of the way she stumbled over the quarter-finding story when she realized he was sitting right there.
(He was already freaked out by her because he had overheard her talking about French kissing to the 7yo! I repeat. She's Six. Years. Old. He had no idea what to do with that, luckily Rexy was out of earshot at the time.)
This girl always - within 5 minutes of her arrival - asks to use the bathroom and I've found her in Rexy's room afterwards each time, while the rest of us were outside in the backyard. Now I can't help thinking that she's been stealing every time. I suspected it once before when she kept putting her hand in her pocket and then looking at me.
Frankly, it's only a quarter - what do I care? Right? But I don't want success to encourage repetition. We confronted her and sent her home. The DH told her to tell her dad because we were going to talk to him. Yeah...right. Like she's going to do that. Now I feel like I have to go over there tonight when he gets home (I was in the middle of cooking dinner last night when the DH told me about the quarter conversation and had to get right back to the stove after we sent her home - otherwise I would have gone with her.) So how do you start that conversation???
Ugh.
Ugh.
3 comments:
"Hi (Parental Units Name), I thought I should let you know about this because if my child was the one in question, I would definitely want to know. Anyway, (and on to explain the stealing scenario)"
As a parent, I would want to know if my daughter had done anything like this. I'm actually trying to raise an honorable human. If the girls parents don't take it seriously or if you don't see a change in the child's behavior, it might be time to be more selective in who your child plays with. We only get to choose their friends for a short time, and then it's a roll of the dice and crossing of fingers. Sad, but true. =(
wow - good luck with this. We had a similar situation when I was growing up (the neighbor kid & I were around 10 tho).My parents didn't say anything & it turned out later that the kid was robbing everyone including the corner store
Sounds like this little girl is craving attention. Kids will do anything to get it, even if it's bad, at least someone is finally noticing them. How sad.
But you can't let it go. I hope her parents do the right thing by her. Good luck to you.
BTW, I love your blog!
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