Robbin' & Stealin'

After school and work today, Kristy took The Quartet over to some friends’ house (people without blogs, how weird are they?) to play with their kids. It seems that while there, S took a liking to a Sacagawea dollar coin she came across and pocketed it. When Kristy discovered this upon returning home, she took the opportunity to make the distinction between right and wrong to S. This is how she did it: “When we’re at a friends’ house and you see something you like, that doesn’t mean you can just take it. How would you like it if when Miss M came over to your house she just took something of yours that she liked?”

It is a lesson that needs to be taught, and the earlier the better. Stealing is wrong and an egregious invasion of someone else’s personal space. It is disrespectful and impolitic. The coin will be returned to her friend and the point has been made. But now I need my point made. I’m glad this came up tonight, not just to curtail my child’s possible life of crime, but because it finally put out in the open the fact that Miss M has been stealing from me for years. Now, I know S.A.M. just hit the ceiling, or at least sat up straighter in a fit of Nordic anger, but this has to be said. I keep a jar next to the door that I throw loose change into. Occasionally I will take this change to the Kroger to color it up into bills and buy necessities like milk, Ovaltine, Pop-Tarts and new toothbrushes. But Miss M helps herself to this change, her tiny three-year-old hands digging deep for the higher denominations. And it isn’t just change, but cookies (lots of cookies), toys, a TV remote, some tools, a John Coltrane CD, one potted plant, a brand new toothbrush and a handful of Cuban Bolivar coronas. Now, I don’t know if Andria or The Admiral are the ringleaders of this little Gypsy operation, but hopefully this will put an end to it all.

The Sacagawea coin is going back to its rightful owner and S learned her lesson about stealing. Or at least about getting caught, which is another lesson that needs to be learned because if she and Miss M have designs on teaming up then they’ll need some instruction from a master. Someone like Jiro who, I believe, has absconded with my Reservoir Dogs DVD, though I can’t prove that. Yet.