Stealing a sticker from school

[Mamaemmeline]

My Reception aged child today told me he took one of the 'well done' stickers today when the teacher wasn't looking. He also told me initially it was for doing good maths.

We've chatted this through about how stealing and fibbing is wrong. I'm undecided whether I should ask him to apologise to the teacher. What do you think?

I’d help him with his maths and tell the teacher he really wants to be recognised for that so he can get one on his own merit and feel how good that is.

Don’t tell her, she’ll potentially hold this against him going forward when handing out rewards. He’s neck and neck with a classmate for the sticker - the child she knows took one won’t get it ahead of the child who didn’t.

He is obviously kern to do well with his maths, and stealing the sticker means that he is feeling inadequate at the moment. I would have a word with his teacher, and see if he can access any extra support with maths. I would be cross about the stealing though.

Yes of course he should apologise, and it will be a great lesson for him in owning up and taking responsibility. The teacher will be able to talk to him and give a different perspective on it to you which will all help to build his understanding.

Bless him for telling you the truth, it’s quite sweet really!

when DS1 was in Year 2 I found an enormous ball of blutac in his room. turns out he had been regularly pinching bits from school. I took him in that morning and made him return it to his teacher and say sorry and his teacher played along very well saying that he was very disappointed and giving him a little talk about taking things that don't belong to you.

The teacher of course didn't hold it against him (as per pp comment above) but it taught Ds1 a lesson and I would do the same again.

DS came out of school with a gold ‘well done’ sticker on his jumper once. I was delighted until the teacher told me he pinched it off his friends jumper, really gently, millimetre by millimetre. She was so impressed by his sleight of hand she didn’t tell him off

She did however ask me to talk to him about it, but she was holding in her giggles. He was 4 and hasn’t turned to crime yet to the best of my knowledge.

I would tell him it was very wrong to steal, but mention it to the teacher directly rather than march him to school to apologise. There’s clearly a problem with how he (maybe the class) is dealing with competition if kids are going around stealing stickers.

Thank you all for your thoughts. I'm sending a private message to the teacher especially given how hard it is to speak directly to teachers at the moment with COVID.

I think the motivation behind taking the sticker is that it had a dino on it rather than feeling inadequate - I think.

Id use it as a learning opportunity. I have a stepdaughter who will steal anything and everything and it’s 100% because she’s been allowed to get away with it as a young child. I’d nip it in the bud right now. My stepdaughter actually asked me if she could have the 50p left on the kitchen side the other day and I was so overjoyed she’d actually asked that I gave her a pound! 😂