Monday, February 22, 2010

All (Well, Almost All) Kids Steal (once)

It is well known that most children, at reaching a certain age of development , will steal. Once or twice. Usually they are inept enough that they get caught. Once caught they are generally punished (ie., made to return the stolen goods), and with one or two tries at thievery, learn that it just isn’t worth it.
It seems that Ricki is at that stage. Yesterday she stole a music CD from a local store, and a bottle of coke at another. On inquiring how she had obtained these items, she said that Miri, a friend of hers from last year, had given them to her.
“So why don’t we call Miri and check?” I suggested.
Ricki turned several shades of purple and admitted to stealing. We returned the disc, and she paid for the drink with the big pile of ten-agorot (3-penny) coins she had saved up in her “piggybank”.
So today, it wasn’t worthwhile for her. The big question is, since Ricki learns EVERYTHING slowly, just how long (and how many times) is this going to take????

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