Why is my teen-age daughter stealing?...

[DanaC]

Oh I used be bad for that sort of stuff as a youngster. Even as a teenager, I was a bit of a tea-leaf. Generally, this involved nicking money, rather than stuff. It would never have occurred to me to take someone's things. But, goin into mum's purse and nicking a couple of quid for cigarettes? Yeah, that was me.

Did do a very short spate of shopliftin as a teenager, mainly make up and the odd bit of cubic-zirconia jewellery from the stands. I remember the first time I saw my best mate lift stuff. We'd been into Whittaker's lookin at the jewellery stands and there was a little cameo brooch that I adored. We got outside and she handed it to me:P I couldn't believe it. I hadn't seen her take it. After that, we used to compete to see who could take the most outrageous stuff.....who could take the most outrageous risks....I got quite good at it. I'm pretty sure I could still go into a shop and come out with stuff and not have a single person see me. It's a skill :P

Of course, I wouldn't do it now. But...when I was in my late teens/early twenties and had no income....well, a pot of nivea was expensive, but absolutely necessary (moisturiser needed for eczema) so I kept that up a lot longer :P At the same time, frankly, it was somewhat necessary to make free with the food shelves of local supermarkets (as I say, living with no income).

As a kid it was more of a game. As an adult it was about survival.

Stealing from individual people though, is slightly different I think. It has more of a personal effect on the victim. I feel far more guilty about the pound coins I took from Ma's purse than for any pair of earrings or pot of nivea that came later. And I don't feel even slightly guilty about the stolen food.