My daughter is a thief!

How many different ways can I explain to my daughter she can NOT take things she wants (she very spoiled :-/) and when she takes things it affects the people she takes them from.

Tonight I picked my daughter up from my ex-brother-in-law's house. I watched my nephews last night and I convinced him to take Ava with him when he picked his kids up :-) Well, when I got there tonight, I told Ava to collect her toys she brought over in her Hello Kitty bag. She runs around his living room and puts stuff in the bag. We get in the car and leave. My brother-in-law lives like 5 minutes from my house. About 2 minutes down the road she proclaims, "Mommy, don't look in my hello kitty bag." I ask "Why not?" She says, "because I don't want you to see what is in my bag." I ask, Why did you take something you were not suppose to take?" She goes on to tell me about how she has real chipmunks in her bag and that if I open it they will get out and will have to catch it...among other excuses she fabricated. At this point I had an idea of what she had taken. My brother-in-law is a McDonald's manager and often brings home the toys displays when the store no longer needs them. He brings them for his sons' to have.

We get home and sure enough she had taken all the girl chipmunks from my nephew while he was sleeping. She went on to explain how they were girl chipmunks and that she is a girl and that boys don't need girl chipmunks. I explained to her that stealing was wrong and she had already asked for them and my nephew told her no. I tried to explain how my nephew would feel when he realized they were missing. I asked her how she would feel if he took all her barbie dolls. She screams, "I WOULD BE SO MAD AT HIM." No matter what I said she insisted that she should get to keep them. She is so rotten. I made her call my brother-in-law and tell him that she told from his house. She acted all shameful like she was sorry, but it did not stop from thinking she could keep them anyway. I took them from her and will make her return them when we go to my sister's house next weekend. Ugh! I even told her she could go to jail is she takes things that are not hers. Apparently she thinks I am rick. She says in the sassiest voice she has, "Well then you can just buy everything for me."

She is spoiled, but I DO NOT let her have everything she want. She asks for things in the store and I tell her we don't have the money for whatever it may be that day. She usually puts it down and moves on. This bring back the memory of the 1st time I caught her taking something from a store that was no hers. It was the 1st time I ever seen her use thought process in taking something and purposely hiding it from me.

Every time we go to Lane Bryant and I am checking out they have all the costume jewelry up by the register. She is always fascinated by the over sized rings. She puts them on her fingers and always asks me to buy them. I tell her they are to expensive and make her put them back. They are $15-20. I have caught her trying to put them in her pockets etc. and tell her you can not put things in her pocket mommy has not paid for. I check out that day and go home. Jack does a load of laundry including the stuff she wore that day. While transferring laundry from the washer to the dryer we found "IT" She had taken one of the rings from the store that day and walked out with it in her pocket. We confronted her and she admits to taking it. I even made her go back to the store and tell the lady what she did last time she was in the store. I never remember to take the dang ring back with us when we go to the mall....she WILL be the one to return it. It just sits in my house with the tag on it. I'm sure I will have to pay for it because it has been washed and the tag is only half readable on the back. It has been in my house over a month now.

So some kids go through biting stages, calling names, hitting, coloring on walls, etc...I never thought I would have to deal with my child stealing! Last week her and her friend tried DID walk out of Burlington Coat Factory with bracelets on, but they announced it and I made them put them back. They were playing dress up, and I don't think that time she realized it was stealing, but when she is purposely hiding things to get them home!

Any ideas? I have made her stand in the corner. I made her confess. She will be returning the ring and the chipmunks. Is this normal? She certainly know she is wrong and is always telling on herself. She always tells me not to go in the room or look in this bag etc when there is something she does not want me to see....

The LOOT!

3 stolen ladies

1 Stolen over sized flower ring