My Son Stole a Toy From the Store...

I read an article the other day. It was entitled, 'My Son stole a toy from the store. What should I do?'

I couldn't help compare the authors advise on what you should do, to how my parent's handled the situation.

The authors approach is understandable, however I think where he has gone wrong is, he has started in the wrong place. He starts with the parent's instead of starting with God. He begins by describing the motivation for acting on the theft is out of a parent's embarrassment, instead of the fact that the 7th Commandment is, "do not steal".

There is a temptation to want to justify our sinful actions. I do it. I listen, as others do that as well. We have a hard time owning up to our sins. And sure, I can appreciate the author's approach, to help parent's not feel like they are alone. Many children steal. But we train our children not to steal because, God instructs us not to steal. We don't train our children not to steal so others will think they are a good person. Or because we as parent's don't want to be embarrassed or shamed by our children's theft.

The author suggests that depending on your child's temperament, you don't get them to confess to the owner. I disagree completely. I think that pride is what stops us from humbling ourselves, even if we are shy, we need to admit our mistakes and confess our sin.

Let me tell you what my parent's did.

After I coaxed my younger sister into putting a pack of bubble gum in her hand bag one afternoon, we then tried to enjoy the rest of the afternoon sneaking bits of gum into our mouth.

We made it through the day, and it was time for bed. However it was in the quietness of the dark, my younger sister was feeling way more convicted then I was. She began crying. My mom asked what was the matter. I kept telling my sister to "shhhhh", because I did not want to get busted. Too late for that. Mom called my sister into the lounge, and shortly after - I followed.

Mom and dad disciplined us and then told us that we needed to make this right. So they loaded me and my younger sister in the car and we headed down to the shop. I remember it was late. It was night time, and I thought, I don't want to go to jail at night. I will never forget the fear, as dad talked privately to the owner of the store. I was very afraid and to be honest, I did not want to confess my thievery. I'm glad that mom and dad had us do that though. Extreme? Sounds like it, but the pay off for their faithfulness in teaching us was much greater. Yes, my sister & I were very young. We thought for sure we were going to get thrown in the clanger. We kissed our mom good bye, just in case we did get taken off to Juvenile Hall. But we were taught that what we did was wrong.

Dad came back to get me and my sister. We were waiting to go into the managers office. In we went, without dad to confess our actions.

The manager did a great job of letting us know that what we had done was very wrong. He praised my sister for telling my parents what we had done. He had a stern word to me about teaching my sister to steal. He promised that if we ever stole again, he would call the police on us.

When we went home, I think mom had hot chocolate and cookies for us. Not as a treat, but as a way of letting us know she cared for us. It helped us to talk about what we had done some more and remember that we don't steal. We don't steal, because God teaches us that.

You know, it is hard work to train children... but you know it's much harder when you try to teach morality and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our children.

From a young age - teach your children with an eternal perspective...

For His Glory