A trip to Wal-Mart

[papasangel]

Boy talk about eggshells. Andrew if I saw children that young putting something in their pocet without paying for it I would discretely go to the customer service desk and let them know. Give them a description and let them handle it. These children are too young to be left to their own devices and the parent needs to be made aware there is a problem. Wal mart has security people trained to handle the problem discretely. Who knows? When they realize their actions have consequences maybe it will point them in the right direction.

[Guest LadyC]

no eggshells for me. i've found myself in similar situations and, i really could care less how much hot water i get in. i'd have gone right up to those kids and said where is your mother, she needs to know you are stealing, and if you don't tell her with me listening, i'll tell her for you.

substitute the word stealing for throwing rocks at cars, using profanity, bullying another kid, or any other situtation in which kids are doing something wrong.

in MOST cases, the parents appreciate being told, and the kid gets in trouble. very rarely have i had a parent tell me to mind my own business, in which case i report the incident to someone higher up (in the case of stealing, a store manager... throwing rocks, the apartment manager... etc. etc.) so they can be monitored.

[Andrew007]

I agree with both of you. I wish I would have said something to someone about what I saw. I showed no love to them at all by not telling them right from wrong. Next time I will try to confront the situation differently instead of just walking away.

[Catsmeow]

I probably would have said some words to get to their conscience. Like ,"You should probably take those to your mother so she can pay for them for ya."

Dave,

I like the way you handle it. I'm a softy and I know sometimes kids do things without even thinking...and sometimes they just don't realize how wrong hiding the candy in a pocket is.

Really! I was a dopey kid myself. My own mother packed a little green toy ball from my cousins house in my suitcase and I thought I was going to burn in hell because it was in my suitcase and I felt responsible somehow.

I didn't put it there; my mother did...but I felt I was to blame for some reason.

Young children (8 and under) tend to reason differently than we do. They may have known it was wrong and just tried to see if they could get away with it...but I'd be a little more gentle the first time and handled it the way Dave said.

I bet they'd think better of it and put the candy down. We're not talking adults but young kids here. Be firm but remember they're still kids.

[Andrew007]

I like that approach too. This is one reason why I decided not to say anything at all. I wasn't sure how to approach the situation! Now that I know, I will treat the situation differently. Thank you all for your advice on how to approach this,

[irishcowboy]

another way, is to walk off ( sort of ) and contact an employee, and direct them to the children, ( maybe even point them out from a distance ) keeps you out of the loop with the problem..... the employee can also contact the office, and the office can then turn on that peticular security camera (those black half balls on the ceilings) with no notification... and watch the kids and even film them so when they are confronted, they can actually see them selves doing the deed.....

one of the reason prices are so high, is we have to pay for the insurance against theft/shoplifting.....

I have pretty much a situation that I am dealing with here, being I am in and out of houses all day long, I see things that I know is totally wrong..... the delima of this is, if I turn it in, the people know that the only outsider in their house was me.... which would not be good for buisness nor my health and well being..... so I have to play the game really cool..... especially when there are children involved, i need to look out for the well being of the children, but also need to be protective of my family....

as of right now, i am not bound to any confidentialality laws or vows...

anyways, some times it is best to try and stay out of the loop on things, but allowing things to slide some times (most the time) is not the answer

mike

[cheercoach]

My daughter has (actually, a couple of times - slow learner?) put small things into her pocket in a store. She never intended to steal the objects. She was just putting them there until we got to the register. You could have said to the girls, "You should take the candy out of your pockets 'cause someone might think that you are stealing it." That way you are being helpful without passing judgement.

[Catsmeow]

Cheer: That's a great solution...and wouldn't offend anyone.

I can remember many years ago I actually did put something in my pocket without realizing it and walked out the store. I returned to the store and said, "Oops, I didn't realize that I took this out by accident. I'm sorry."

They still look at you like you're a bit weird, but I knew it was just an accident.

Things do happen...not always but sometimes. People makes mistakes.

[jesusson]

Yes I think you should have said something to them. Because for one it

[Catsmeow]

It's a hard call though...young children are often confused and don't always know what they're doing.

A firm rebuke is usually enough. It depends.

Do you know that some children are actually trained by their parents to shoplift? Some are used as drug runners by their parents. Some children are victims of crime by their own parents!

We just have to really let the Holy Spirit show us the best course of action in each case.