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Mom Calls Cops on Kid Who Stole Stickers
Cops were called when a kid was caught shoplifting, so what’s the surprise in this? The call was made by her mom – and the girl was only six.
The purloined item? A sheet of stickers.
The AP says Diane Lyons of Ohio doesn’t think she overreacted at all in calling the cops over a $3.11 package of stickers meant to become temporary tattoos. But this is a woman who also thought it appropriate to query the cops on a $30 reward for turning in shoplifters (she opted against taking it, telling the AP she doesn’t understand why people would think she set her kid up in order to cash in on the situation).
I think we can all agree with Lyons that you need to nip this sort of behavior in the bud. Shoplifting is wrong – even when you’re only six-years-old.
But as a parent whose child has picked something up in a store and tried to put it in her pocket (she was three), I can tell you it’s just as effective to march her up to the store owners and have her return the item, along with an “I’m sorry.” For a larger store, pick a cashier or call for a manager. It’s making clear there are consequences, forcing them to make amends.
Instead a six-year-old took a ride in a police car, and police were called off their regularly scheduled routine to play nanny and discipline a little kid over a $3.11 item. Like the mom who called 911 recently over her kid’s video game addiction, it seems like a mother handing over parenting duties to the police whose time could be better served protecting the public.
Do you think Lyons went too far?
Image: notsogoodphotography via flickr
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2 Comments
[...] had a rash of parents calling the cops lately to do the job of parenting, and I’d normally call foul on the parent for wasting the time of the police and for shirking [...]
Dad Drives Kids To Police Station for Pulling His Hair | Strollerderby commented on Jan 13 10 at 3:33 pmscott commented on Jul 06 11 at 3:50 amit really depends on the full situation. she may be 6, but this may not be the first time she walked out of a store with something she didn’t pay for.
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