I just googled "punishment for kids stealing." Maegan stole $5.00 from Doug's wallet so she could buy stuff at the school book fair (even though she bought 2 books the day before). We are pretty sure this isn't the first time she has helped herself to our cash. She has also refused to give part of her allowance to church. We agreed in the beginning that she would "save, give, spend" her allowance. Next google, 'way to force child to love giving'.
Spencer stole a chocolate from Menards last Saturday and a candy bar from there today. I tried to talk to him about it. I said, "How would you feel if we gave you some candy and then one of your friends stole it from you?" He said, "Well, I would be mad and go to the store and take some candy from them." Nice.
Top this stuff with Maegan telling me I deserve to die and other unthoughtful words. Maegan threw her helmet down and broke it today and Spencer pushed a toy crib over and broke it. Doug discovered our printer was broken by the kids (spilled water or something). Oh, and this is just scratches the surface.
What are we doing wrong?! How have we failed?!
Parenting is very hard and leaves me running to the books furiously searching indexes for answers. And yes, shaking the old google 8 ball to find some wisdom.
One article I discovered was a clip of a Hammas children's show that taught kids that Hasim the bunny should get his hand cut off for stealing from his dad. Hmmmm....kids it's movie night!
"The words were everything. They were the whole of my life as I had ever felt it and the whole of beauty as I had ever dared to suspect it." P. Tickle
1 comment:
You are not alone. You are amazing parents. You have not failed. I often have to remind myself that my children's behavior is not necessarily a direct reflection on our parenting! Stay strong in the Lord, Friend! :-) We need to get together and pray for our children. I know I don't do that often enough.
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