Adney plays a new game lately. It's called Kleptomaniac. This is how he plays.... Go around the house and find things that you know you aren't supposed to have. Sneak them away to your room. Stash them in various hiding places. Go find your mom and tell her "Don't come in my room." Then run away as she goes to discover your latest treasures. Then sit in Time Out for having stolen something very naughty.
Fun game right? So far he has stolen:
Shotgun shells
Kyle's I-pod
My phone
12 tampons
A steak knife
Kyle's Razor
2 Jump drives
My Camera
Kyle's Wallet
Kyle's Temple Recommend
A bottle of Antibiotics
Binoculars
My lipstick
$5 bill
Wedding pictures
Yeah... see how some of these thing might be problematic? It's all he does all day the last few days. Steal stuff and stash it. He recently learned how to lie....which is a fun development. He is a really bad liar... but it still makes me sad that he learned how. Not really sure what to do about it either. I keep sitting him down and talking to him about how it's not good to steal things. We got some childproof doorknobs to keep him out of places. He sits in time out after time out. But none of that seems to be working. I am afraid he is either going to get seriously hurt or break something we can't afford to replace.
Help! I need advice! How do I make the Kleptomaniac behaviors stop?!
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6 comments:
HA! I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh when I read through that list - it's hilarious what he's found! Seriously, I don't know what to do about it though. But you're the best mommy ever, and I KNOW you will come up with something clever!
Maybe you could start stealing his toys and hiding them in your room?! Ha ;)
I had to laugh at kari's comment cause that is exactly how we get Isa to stop. We steal her most favorite things and don't tell her where they are until she is near tears. It is cruel but made the point.now she just steals her own toys and hides them. It may seem juvenile but it worked for us. Also we tried timeout in a closet on a chair, much more depressing for them.
My eyes got progressively wider and wider, the farther through that list I got...good grief! :) I'll let you know if I hear anything that might help.
well i'm no professional, but it sounds like he keeps doing it cause he wants/needs more attention from you...even if it's negative attention. just my thought. but how to turn this predicament into a positive learning experience for both of you? i don't know.....i know it's possible though, but dang, you would have to do some research. In our toddler labs on campus we were taught to ignore their naughty behavior and don't chase after them when they run away cause then they'll just keep doing it, obviously, but when adney steals stuff that you need or that is dangerous?! haha holy crap i don't know! a knife?! a wallet?! hahahaha. i'm so sorry about this little recent development. I would re-evaluate the time-out strategy since it doesn't seem to be working. there's lots of controversy on the effectiveness of that anyway. when he comes to you and says "don't look in my room" that's obviously a clear message that means "go look in my room mom, now" cause he knows you'll immediately drop everything and he has your attention. to him it's just a game! : ) i wonder what would happen if you dismissed his "don't go in my room, mom"....i wonder if he would see he's not getting your immediate, panicked reaction and then just gives up or something? if you treated it like it wasn't a big deal then maybe he'd offer up the item to you on his own a little later after he realized he wasn't getting the reaction he used to get out of mom?
Now, I'm guessing you're not a fan of spankings because you're so sweet, but when me and all my sisters were growing up, we got spanked... and spanked hard enough to hurt so that we would never want to get spanked again.
If we talked back, we got spanked. So we never talked back when we were little. If we lied, we got spanked. So we quickly learned that we didn't want to tell a lie. Same with any other bad behavior. If you're not a spanking fan, then you've got to find some sort of consequence that he WILL NOT LIKE and will do ANYTHING to avoid. It osunds like time-out is a huge bummer, but not the worst thing that could happen to him (in his mind).
My little 6-year-old brother (who is a sweet boy... but a TYPICAL boy and a PILL) minds my dad 100 percent. He talks back to my mom all the time and throws fits... but not in front of my dad, b/c he knows he'll get spanked (or his ear yanked... I used to hate that!) Anyway... obviously I'm pro-spanking if one is called for, haha.
But I hope you find what works best for you guys!!!!! Good luck!!!
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