How to handle stealing money

[Apen2009]

O.K., this one is for my sister. . .she has two teenagers... they just moved in with her boyfriend. So far it seems like this is a great shot at some normalcy. From what I can tell this boyfriend is a very nice guy. Her girls are 16 and 13 (will be 14 this summer) . . so, my sister and her boyfriend went out for dinner last night, leaving the girls home. Either last night or this morning they realized that some bags of coins belonging to the boyfriend are missing. My sis is going to call with more information and seeks advice on the situation so I have only few details at the moment. The bags are gallon size, so quite large.. though I don't know how many are missing or how much they contained. . .I'm not sure it matters. .
I dn't have teenagers and I am hoping some Moms can help out with some advice. . . what would you do in this situation? Let's assume they will deny taking it to begin with. . . how do you address this? They are good kids,. . but are making some bad choices at the moment. .
I'll have more info in a little bit but I'm hoping to get some input on this. I know it MUST be addressed. . but not sure what sticks as a lesson to teenagers. ..

 

[seoj]

That's a tough one... I'm not sure exactly how I would handle that with my kid. But really, if I KNEW she did it... I would just confront her and ask if she did. And let her know if she lies, the punishment will be MUCH worse. If she admits to it- then there still needs to be punishment... like taking away her cell, that is the end of the world for her! lol. Ah teenage girls But if she lied and the truth came out later... then the punishment would for sure be worse. Not exactly sure HOW it can be worse than no cell phone- maybe no TV or video games or anything like that for a week... of course she'll be punishing herself as well since she'll have to listen to whiny teenagers all week... but sometimes that is just what we have to do.

With two girls it's tough- cause how do you specifically blame one? Maybe just tell them if no one admits what happened, then they both get punished the same...

When the truth comes out- then they should also apologize to the boyfriend in person.

Best of luck to her!!!!!

 

[Apen2009]

Thanks Seoj - - -after lying about it they both confessed to taking some money (about$3) She did make them apologize to the boyfriend and then they had to do yard work for an entire afternoon (about 5 hours) Yikes!! I'm sure they will think twice about before doing that again. .

 

[lozzy21]

I would have rang the police. My brother stole money once when he was 12 and after 2 hours sat in the cell's he never did it again.