My son goes to a church based youth club\summer camp. He has been going for two years without any issues with theft. But last week he had his entire deck of the higher value Yu Gi Oh cards nicked from his bag.
My first instinct was to make him leave anything thievable at home, but as he pointed out these collections (and the Pokemon games on the DSi that they play collaboratively) are the most fun when part of group play. If he leaves them at home he'll be left out of playing games that he loves. So I let him take his stuff in with him despite the previous theft and my misgivings.
Today 15 euros (that was to charge up his account at the snack bar, it wasn't open when he arrived), the Yu Gi Oh cards his friends had donated to help him start to build his collection back up again and a Pokemon DSi game (the white game, which is his fave game that he only just got after ages of saving up) all got swiped despite him going to some lengths to hide them in his lunch box, wrapped out in his towel\change of clothes etc.
He doesn't cry easily, but he has been in buckets over this.
The priests can't install lockers, they are really expensive and the budget is limited, and it is impossible to police the bags of over 300 kids who are in and out the bag room getting stuff out of them all day, so I don't really see a practical solution to the theft problem.
This evening I've asked him to leave all valuables at home from now on and accept that the card and DSi games are something he plays with his mates when they come over or he goes to their houses, even if that means a couple of hours a day he has to watch his mates play rather than join in.
He thinks this is very unfair and feels that he is losing out twice over, which is adding to his upset. I do understand how he feels, but even if I put a lock on his bag the reality is that he will probably just end up with the whole bag disappearing instead of stuff being selected from within it.
I suppose we could say, OK you can take the stuff you are prepared to lose on the basis that we are not replacing anything else.
But rightly or wrongly, that makes me feel really mean.
So AIBU to insist he leaves his valuable stuff at home ? Or can the collective wisdom of MNetters point me to a better solution that doesn't make him so unhappy.
AIBU?
AIBU Me V My nearly 11 yo son re. petty theft.
fastweb · 29/06/2011 20:06
Oh that's dreadful 
What about one of those belt things with all the zips and pockets?
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
I'm not religious but I'm shocked that the priests/church don't seem to be doing more about this. Isn't there something about not stealing in the 10 commandments, the foundation for their religion? 
Even if they can't actually do anything a very stern message needs to be sent out or you will have an epidemic on your hands.
No problemo 
On the other hand, it still doesn't solve the long term problem though. Is there nothing they can do?
If there are 300 children, limited resources and thieving is going on as you suggest, you all pay about 25p and and hire somebody to keep an eye on the room where the bags are ketp. Simples 
Just an update.
He was in tears again this morning and didn't want to go to summer camp (hell just froze over, I normally have to point out that a fever and youth club are not a good mix). So upon discovering that the waterplay stuff is being removed tonight for the remainder of camp cos the people lending it need it for an event, we went and got a non waterproof bum bag thing, but it goes over the shoulder. It was the only one in town, but luckily he loves it, loads of pockets and hidey spaces with good quality zips. And it says Adidas on it, which is a bonus apparently.
Then we went to the newsagents and restocked him with YU Gi Oh cards, so at least he has a deck to play with.
I also relented on my anti ebay feeling and he has found a few of the extra special cards he lost at not too horrible a price so since his birthday is coming up we have offered to buy some of them now as an extra pressie.
I'll see if I can track down a second hand copy of the DSi game that got swiped too.
After lunch he decided he wanted to go to the club, but stay out of the water play for the sake of not taking the bag off.
The plan was that I would speak to the priest, but DH intervened cos I went a bit garbled trying to say everything at once. The priests were amenable to speaking to all the kids on Friday and coming down like a ton of bricks cos while they can't do much about the hardcore element they think being light fingered is become a bit infectious. They have also stuck 2 mums (who looked very glum) on permanent bag room duty because apparently yesterday was a record nicking day and several posher entire bags went missing as well as stuff out of the less desirable bags. The whole thing has cast a bit of a long shadow over what is a normally brilliant atmosphere unfortunately.
Other than DS's constant optimism that the thief\thieves will be caught and he will get his stuff back (he took it very badly when I explained that even if they got caught the chances of him seeing his stuff again was so low that it might be better to just accept it is gone rather than live in false hope) things are a good bit better than they were last night\this morning.
So thank you all for your suggestions and ideas, it was a big help. I wish you could have seen his walking in and showing all his friends all the fabby pockets in his new bag with a smile on his face (finally).
He is very impressed with the wisdom of mumsnet, so if you start getting 11 yo boy dilemmas posted in creatively spelled English posted under my name, somebody drop me a line and give me fair warning please.
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