Well after my son's experience with my mom and stealing, I had hoped he would have learned not to steal. Unfortunately he didn't. In his head he basically decided that he needed to lie better so he wouldn't get caught. He stole from the gift shop at Craters of the Moon. He stole from the trailer supply store his dad goes too.
The pocket knife from the trailer supply store he managed to keep under wraps for a week before getting caught. I was at wits end. What we were doing, taking the items away, making him pay for the item with his money, not allowing him to steal and being grounded for the day wasn't working so two weeks ago we played hard ball.
Conveniently we still needed to switch rooms for the boys and the twins had only crib mattresses on their floor to sleep on. So we cleaned up Ean's stuff, put the crib mattresses in the garage and moved the twins stuff in the bigger room.
Ean was allowed one blanket that night. He's earned a few more blankets and a twin size mattress back but he hasn't earned a bed. He's not allowed to spend the night anywhere, not even grandma. He's not allowed to play with friends and he's only allowed to ride his bike if he's going to the park and I'm biking because he has to bike with me.
*sigh*
I hate hard ball.
Really really hate it but what we were doing wasn't working and I KNOW he's a good kid. Once he makes the decision on stealing it won't ever be an issue for him, but he's got to decide. Hopefully he realizes the consequences just aren't worth it and then, he can realize how good it feels to make righteous choices.
So hardball. That's the game. And we the parents are up to playing, but hopefully we won't ever have to play *quite* that hard again.
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