Go do the poll!

Go do the poll.  Now! We are going to talk about this later.  

 

Faster!  Or else more scrotum pictures.

 

Comments

[Lioness]

I really don't like polls for some reason, so could I have some more scrotum, please? Oh all right, I'd send him right back to the store, and take pics, and then blog abt it and send the address to all his friends.

Congrats on he radio interview, I cannot hear it though. Now how can I mock you?

[JodieBuckland]

Oh yes, more scrotum please! My stomach looks like that too. But not as flat! And no belly ring. Far too prone to keloid scarring for those shenanigans.

Good polls, got me thinking. Have to admit I voted "not take it back" when it was the store's mistake (I figure it's their fault) and "take it back" if it was my son (it was his fault, he should wear it). I remember once I bought a steam iron, it was really expensive, but the store clerk scanned it and it came up as electric toothbrush replacement heads. Cheap. He didn't notice, I didn't point it out but admit I was very pleased. Is that stealing?. Hmmmmm....ethics have never been my strong suit.

[Miss W]

I'd do the poll, but the answer I would have is not there.

The closest approximation is to take him back and make him pay for it, but I wouldn't.

I would make him take it back and apologize to the manager. He would NOT be allowed to keep the toy. If he had in some way damaged it or removed it from packaging such that the store would not take it back, he would pay for it out of his own money, apologize to the store manager and then the toy would be taken away by me never to be seen again.

[steph]

I'm with Miss W, the toy goes back with an apology.

[Beth]

I agree with Miss W & Steph!

[Jennifer]

Oddly enough, something very similar happened to me when I was 5 (circa 1976). I took some hair barrettes from Big K (a discount department store much like Wal-Mart used to be). Only I decided to take them out of my plastic Snoopy purse during church services and place them in my hair with much fan fare and "ooo...look how pretty Jennifer is..." Well, Mom took one look and knew she hadn't bought her short-hair daughter white enamel hair barrettes with red strawberries painted on them. I was picked up immediately, taken to the car and recieved a spanking then made to sit through the rest of the church services trying to control my sobs. If that wasn't bad enough, Mom took me back to the store on Monday morning (we were there when the doors opened) made me crack open my piggy bank (actually a Barney from the Flintstones plastic bank) and pay for the barrettes. We kept them since I'd had them in my hair, but I never saw them again. I was only 5, but I remember that experience to this day because the store manager was very understanding and I couldn't understand why Mom wasn't. I guess he thought I had been punished enough.

[Moxie]

What Miss W said is exactly what we did when this situation came up (with a 4-year-old, not an 8-year-old):
http://moxie.blogs.com/moxie/2006/02/monday_motherin.html

It sucked, but they have to learn.

[jennifer]

i'm with Jennifer and miss w - my mom did that to me when i stole some gum. she saw me in the rearview mirror chewing a huge wad of bubbilicious, turned right back around and made me apologize for stealing and pay for it. she took it all away, too.

as an adult, i die a little death when i realize i've left a store without paying for something and ALWAYS turn around to go pay for it - you should have seen the look the cashier at home depot gave me last spring when i came back to pay for the $0.20 item she'd missed...

[-Blue]

What everyone else said!

Oh, and can we get some scrotum pics of actual scrotums? Please? It's been a boring day ...

-Blue

[Leigh]

My daughter WOULD NOT, under any circumstances, be allowed to keep it. Especially at the age of 8!!!!!!! An 8 year old knows it is wrong to steal. 4 year old...maybe not, but would still not be allowed tokeep it, but not pay for it either, but return it and apologize. Not good options.

[cursingmama]

I filled out the poll - and I really wanted to click on the "right" answer - but the facts are that sometimes doing whats "right" isn't. Sometimes a good talking too and taking the toy away is the "right" thing; sometimes making your kid go back to the store and forcing them to shame themselves to a 16 year old who could care less is definately the wrong thing to do.

My kids are (hopefully) past this stage; so I picked depends how far away the store is....because with the price of gas these days I'd be lying if that wouldn't play a part in my decision on what to do.

[gkk]

Another vote for the option which wasn't there, the kid apologises, I pay for the toy and the toy goes in the bin. End of story.

[esther]

I would assist the child in returning the item and explaining and apologizing to the manager.

I woud try to remember that the point is to teach a lesson in doing the right thing, without humiliating the kid.

[1girl2boys]

When I was 5, I stole a candy bar while grocery shopping with my mom. Just as we got home it fell out of shirt and my mom saw it. She drove me right back to the store, where I had to give it to the manager and apologize. I have never stolen anything else in my life.

[Tessy]

Damn. You caught me. Point well taken (even though you haven't made it yet). My choice when it's me and when it's my son are different. AND kids learn by example, so how I am supposed to teach that stealing is wrong if I don't turn around and pay for the item I "took?" You've made your point.

[Penny Farthing]

My answer wasn't there either. I'd take the toy from the kid, give them a sound telling off, stop pocket money and tell DH in front of them so they could see how disapointed DH was.

[Beth in Michigan]

Oh, good! I was hoping we could talk about this because, um, there were some discrepancies in my responses which I'd like to explain! :) For instance, if I accidently end up with an extra item I see that differently then actually taking something on purpose. I figure that I've been overcharged enough times and not said or done anything about it that I'm justified in not returning a 2 dollar bottle of nail polish.

I'm also interested in hearing how people deal with the following similar issue. You know how new money likes to stick together?Well, I have been handed too much money at the bank several times but I have *always* given it back because this would have been more like 10 or 20 dollars and not returning it would have caused huge hassles for the teller involved.

These issues (and our responses to them) are not as clear cut as they may at first seem! Guess I better shut up now and save the rest of this for the actual discussion! (She said, slinking away in an embarrassed fashion!)

[Lisa]

I see where you're going with this. We'd make our kids take something back, but we're too lazy to drive back to the store ourselves.

Then again, in the other poll, it was an "accident", but still morally wrong though, I guess.

[Heather]

Again with the answer that isn't there.
1. Back to the store.
2. Apologize to the manager and it goes away.
3. Then, since s/he's 8, a letter to .... somebody {I don't know who} explaining that it was wrong and why. Maybe to the manager, maybe to grandma, maybe to Santa. I don't think it even needs to get sent, but the kid should write it.