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What to do if a child steals money and lies: advice for parents
13.05.2023 13:15
If a child steals money and lies about it, then it is impossible to imagine a worse punishment for the parents.
In this case, you need to start acting immediately, but often moms and dads simply don’t know where to start, and in the meantime, the habit can lead to sad consequences for the rest of your life.
What should parents do?
Experts in this regard recommend starting not with preventive measures, but with a dialogue during which you need to find out what could have prompted the child to steal money from the parent's wallet.
What should not be done?
It is advisable to act quietly, confidentially, without making a fuss, otherwise you can lose your status as an authority in the eyes of your son or daughter forever. Therefore, a public hearing will not work in this case.
Phrases like: “There is no place for thieves in our family,” or “You have unpleasantly surprised me,” and all the rest, should also be left aside.
Reasons
Often parents are to blame for the fact that the child decides to take a desperate action and then he will not only start to steal bills from the family piggy bank, but also to appropriate other people's things.
Children who grow up in families with SOP status need professional help.
Also, all relatives should develop a unified position regarding prohibitions: if someone reasonably forbade something to a child, everyone without exception should forbid it.
Total control on the part of parents also harms a happy childhood, and we must also remember that children are not strangers to envy.
How to punish
Nothing will help as much as the child compensates for the damage independently and to the best of his ability. This should not be money that he is given for pocket expenses, but money earned by the labor of his own hands.
There are plenty of options: from part-time jobs for teenagers to cleaning and helping around the house for younger children.
And the main thing that parents should remember is that if there is no direct evidence that the child committed the offense, no one should be punished.
