to smash a gift that DS received for his last birthday?

[DoreensEatingHerSoreen]

One of those really nice ceramic money pots that you put coins in but can't get them out, you wait until the pot is full and then break it.

I left my purse in reach and DS (2.11) has put ALL of my money in his pot! Only about £8 in change but this was literally all the money in the flat!

I need cash to get the bus to work / nursery tomorrow. So - do I smash it, or go to the cash point at the local shop any pay £1.75 to take a tenner out of my own account? (The shop doesn't do cash-back and the nearest free cash point is not in walking distance - I'd have to get the bus ).

Obviously I'd keep all the coins saved so far in another jar or something.

3 year olds don't magically know about ownership. They only know not to go in a purse if they've been told, if they haven't then they see money, think "Oh look! Lots of lovely money to go in my pot!" - it doesn't occur to them that Mum might need the money for something else. They probably don't really know what it is, just something shiny for putting into pots...

I think I'm partly to blame really though as he sees me take coins out of my purse and hand them to him to put in the money box all the time.

I've told him that he shouldn't have taken my purse and that only I can go into it to get coins but we've never had to discuss it before so I've not made a big thing of it.

I've got my bus fare now (mostly in 10s and 5s!) so he can keep the rest this time