Can’t believe someone would steal a child’s coat!

[justmakemeacuppa]

Just a rant really, I’m livid took kids out to a play area. had food then moved into play area. Somewhere from moving from one room to another it seems my 2 yo had her coat taken. I’d hoped I’d just left it on the 1st table but I actually went back to check as I had left dd7 shoes under the table and double checked I’d picked everything thing up. I do the usual and keep an eye on phone/purse the obvious things but never thought for one moment someone would take a child’s coat. We searched the pub and lost property but not handed in. It’s snowing but luckily we were in the car but imagine if we’d had to walk home with a 2 yo with no coat! Obviously I’d give her mine if we had to walk. I just keep saying to myself at least a child will be warm. The coat wasn’t a cheap one so this may be why it’s disappeared. Just waiting to see if cctv shows anything. I’m so gutted and can’t buy another as it’s no longer in stock. Not sure I’m upset I’ve lost her lovely coat or the fact it’s deliberately been taken!

The fact it's never old battered asda coats stolen shows there's some.degree of thought and planning and constant look out for "suitable" items.*

Not true 😩 the 3 coats of my sons that were stolen 2 was from asda one was from primark although they were brand new.
I think people will steal anything.

Ive found the opposite because funnily enough none of my daughters monsoon coats have been stolen despite being triple the price.

Our secondary school parents' group is full of pleas for PE kits to be found. Mostly they're misplaced but not all. The school has really strict rules around kit for PE and detentions are given out very easily if children don't have the exact kit. It must be very tempting to grab someone else's kit if you've lost your own to avoid detention.

Some people are just horrible.

A couple of years ago my mum (who is not in good health and looks quite frail) went into town to buy a present for my DD. She struggled to do this but wanted to choose a dress for her herself. She paid cash, came out of the shop with dress and receipt in a bag and had to sit down on a low wall to catch her breath for a while. She would have looked obviously a bit poorly. Put the bag beside her. She was aware of a woman coming and sitting quite close for a few seconds. When my mum felt well enough to get up again the woman and the bag with the dress in had gone.

I still feel sad when I think about this - both for the way it made my mum feel and that people can be so horrible.

That's actually just as scheming though isn't it.

Someone is more likely to complain about an expensive cost getting nicked. Perhaps they are hoping you don't care about the cheap coat so won't say anything and no attempts to increase security and therefore off the supply will be made...

3 times sounds like you are being targeted some what tbh

Thats what i think GerryblewuptheER Dds coats are much more expensive at £60+ but also they stand out alot and no one else tends to have them at the school so I guess they steal what they can get away with. They certainly wouldnt be able to wear hers back to school without me noticing.

This happened to a friend of mine.

She'd had a huge clear out of her little boy's clothes and left him with his big (newish) winter coat and an anorak.

Someone stole the coat from a play area and left him with no coat.

She was also absolutely skint after having replaced the boiler and already in her overdraft and had to take a pay day loan to buy him a new one.

Regardless of whether you can't afford anything, that's no excuse to steal from someone else - especially when you've know way of knowing their financial circumstances.

Makes me so glad Dds have lockers.

Granted at dd2s school they are easily unlockable but does mean that you would have to go rooting through all if them to find something suitable rather than just swipe off a peg.

Dd1 has a.locker with a key. Best 22 quid I ever spent.

Now if I could just stop the equipment "going missing"....

I once bought a new suede jacket in town, then wore it to my hairdresser appointment, you hand your coat to the receptionist who stores it in a visible rail behind her . At the end of the appointment when I went to claim my jacket, the receptionist said that someone else had tried to claim my jacket but she didn't hand it to them as she remembered it was mine as she admired it when i went in. If the receptionist had changed or gone on a break I would have lost my expensive new jacket. It was a real shock as this was an expensive hair dressers with wealthy ish clients. Some people are just opportunist thieves who will try to take what they want.

Crooks will do anything to make money. Anything. If you can imagine a way to gain some wealth, no matter how unethical or illegal it is, someone's done it.

That’s horrible ladymacbeth.

A number of years ago I went out shopping with my 2 kids who were both of preschool age at the time, thr youngest was still in a buggy. I went for coffee in M and S and sat the kids down while I went for food and drink. I dumped my bag of clothes I’d bought on the chair I was going to be sitting on.

When I came back my bag of clothes was nowhere to be seen. I asked a member of staff if they’d seen it and as she was over at the table I noticed that the old and very respectable looking woman sitting at the next table with her husband had it between her legs! I said “that’s my bag” and she mumbled something about keeping it safe from the kids. Yeah right, when she’d seen me looking for it and asking staff if it had been seen and kept her mouth shut. Total scumbags.

I'm embarrassed to say my son once accidentally took someone else's shoes at a soft play on a ferry and I didn't notice until we were home, he had a pair of navy Start-rite sandals and when the ferry docked he popped on a pair of navy Start-rite sandals in a size up. Neither pairs of shoes were labeled so there was no way to return them, but it was an honest mistake, I'd never do that on purpose and only noticed that they seemed big when we got home. But stealing kids things is pretty low.

This happens so frequently that there must be people reading this thread who have lifted other people's items

I once had a jacket pinched when I was working a shift in A+E, from the staff room that had a keypad to enter. So it must have been taken by one of my lovely colleagues.

DP spotted a woman rummaging around under DDs buggy and get her coat out. Our DD had exactly the same style coat as her DD, only ours was in a bigger size. She was trying to swap them. This was at a theatre. She didn’t seem ashamed of herself at all.

My sons coat was taken in primary school despite being a cheap supermarket one. Another boy had the same coat and they often took the wrong one by mistake. One day, however, the other boys coat wasn’t there to use instead for walking home. I dashed outside, (very small school), and spotted the other Mum and asked if she had both coats by mistake. She had one which she was at pains to tell me was her sons. She showed me the (freshly) penned initials on the neck label but I was able to point her to the previously written & slightly faded name of my son on the inside label. It was begrudgingly handed back and the other boy had a new coat the next day as he’d clearly lost or spoiled his.

I also witnessed a parent throw away a swimming kit belonging to one of my children. He’d picked it up in the changing room, clearly by mistake. I spotted him with it ahead of me as we left the pool but before I had the chance to get his attention he noticed that he had a rogue swimming bag and casually discarded it in a litter bin he was passing!

Scum.
They are at soft play, which they have paid to get in, in winter. So presumably their child must have arrived in shoes and coat.

I arrived to pick DD up from nursery to find another mum looking for their child's coat. We were last there. It was freezing. Baby about 8 months. They had to wrap her in blankets to take her home.
If it had been a simple mistake or someone with same coat then there would've been a coat left on the pegs.

I never let mine take anything precious into school/nursery like a favourite ted or blanket. Fuckers will take anything. Not because they are desperate but because they can.

Wax, did you confront him when you saw him bin it? That’s horrible!

No I just picked it up as it was on the top and I couldn’t be bothered with the confrontation!

This takes me back years when some kid nicked my ds coat, I got it back and put his name on the inside of his sleeve(so not visible) so when he nicked it again and I confronted the mother she could only stand open mouthed when I turned the sleeve inside out to show my ds name

@Waxlyrically that's awful. Ours is a small local pool so I would have told staff immediately. He'd probably not be welcomed back. Either that or I would have gave him a bollocking in front of everyone there. That would have been quite satisfying.

My friends son took his handmade stuffed teddy into school once (something I do not allow for this exact reason) and when he went to get his bag, the stuffed animal was taken from his desk. He assumed maybe the teacher had moved it and left school without it.
Later that night they saw a girl from his class with it at a group they both attended. My friend said loudly, "Oh thank you! You found teddy! DS will be so happy to get him back won't you, DS?" And went to take it. The little girl immediately put my friends son on the spot and said she wanted to take teddy for a sleepover and he reluctantly said okay before my friend could intervene. She said fine but teddy MUST be brought back to school the following day. (Not wanting to cause a scene because of a thoughtless little girl)
First thing at school the next day she approached the kid and asked for it back only to be told "No, teddy wanted a lie in and was still asleep in my bed".

The girl's mother would have been well aware her child had someone else's toy but made no effort to get her child to return it. In the end my friend said if she didn't get it back the following day she would need to come pick him up from her house.
If any of my primary aged kids turn up with so much as a pencil that isn't theirs I tell them to take it back, even if they say it was given to them. How can people be okay with keeping things that don't belong to them?

I believe you op, it's sad but it happens. We've had allsorts pinched. A local mother took their DD swimming and stupidly didn't use a locker and on return found her dd's brand new Clarks shoes had been taken.

When DD was born, she was in the neonatal intensive care unit for a while and while we were there one of the other families had their buggy stolen from the vestibule outside. It actually belonged to their older child who was visiting their new sibling, but still, there was no one there who wasn't with a seriously ill baby and the thieves clearly didn't give that a single thought.

Update* the coat has been located! Have to pick it up tonight when they are home. Fingers crossed she messages with an address. Won’t be going alone I may add.

When I say I’m not going alone this is for my safety not to cause trouble

Slightly different but I once took DS to a soft play party when he was about 8. He took his trainers off and piled them up with the rest and when we were getting ready to leave, he picked up the trainers which looked like his but they were at least 4 sizes too big......I was just imagining this (bigger) kid walking home with his feet squashed into tiny trainers!!

People steal all kinds of things in my dc's school and we live in quite an affluent area so I really doubt it's someone desperate for money.