Stealing

[clarkie1970]

my 8 year old daughter has just taken a £2 coin from the bag of our 12 yr old's friend. She denied it initially but my husband and I knew by the tone of her voice that it was her. She confessed quickly but cannot explain her actions. I don't know how to deal with this in the best way - please help

Does she get her own money? If so you could try to get her to understand how she would feel if someone did this to her. If not it might be a good time to bring in pocket money for chores so she can start to get an idea of value.

I went through a light-fingered stage around that age - driven by a desire to own something that I'd got myself but not knowing why I felt like this or how to go about it (other than stealing).

Many of my friends went through the same stage and I'm pleased to say all grew out of it and as a result all had paper rounds and weekend jobs as early as possible (paper round paid a fiver for the week, mum and dad would only give a quid for half a whole Saturday spent mowing, weeding, and washing the car so I took my labour elsewhere!)