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

Sundae · 08-29-2008, 04:24 AM

I get what your saying Dana. It's not, "Hey it's okay to steal food kids, it doesn't hurt anyone but Fat Cats!" What you're saying is it doesn't have the same personal effect as - say - befriending old Mrs Jones and lifting a fiver a week from the stash in her tea caddy. It's not about whether stealing is wrong, it's about whether some thefts have more emotional impact than others.

At that age I was busy throwing emotional tantrums and being manipulative to get what I wanted and confusing sexual attention with love. I started drinking as an excuse for the things I wanted to do and wasn't brave enough to admit to doing sober. I put myself in danger in quite a few ways in my late teens, but nothing I couldn't pretend hadn't happened in the morning.

Your 19 year old self sounds so much more fucked up than mine - and yet you learned from it, moved on and are at a very good place in your life. Mine was a less scary form of fucked-uppery to outward appearance (i.e. parents, employers), but I believe I am still dealing with issues I had then.

08-29-2008, 04:24 AM	#34
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	I get what your saying Dana. It's not, "Hey it's okay to steal food kids, it doesn't hurt anyone but Fat Cats!" What you're saying is it doesn't have the same personal effect as - say - befriending old Mrs Jones and lifting a fiver a week from the stash in her tea caddy. It's not about whether stealing is wrong, it's about whether some thefts have more emotional impact than others. At that age I was busy throwing emotional tantrums and being manipulative to get what I wanted and confusing sexual attention with love. I started drinking as an excuse for the things I wanted to do and wasn't brave enough to admit to doing sober. I put myself in danger in quite a few ways in my late teens, but nothing I couldn't pretend hadn't happened in the morning. Your 19 year old self sounds so much more fucked up than mine - and yet you learned from it, moved on and are at a very good place in your life. Mine was a less scary form of fucked-uppery to outward appearance (i.e. parents, employers), but I believe I am still dealing with issues I had then.

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