Crime and Punishment

I don't know if I'm even in the right frame of mind to write this, BUT I'm going to. (And maybe delete it later!)

I get home from shopping at Dick's with Katelyn & Brookelle, where I'd been for the last 1 1/2 hours. I'd already been performing "meltdown control" with Brookelle the last 1/2 hr. of the shopping trip. Brookelle is hungry, tired, and poopy. (Not to mention I am, too - at least the hungry part!) I bring the baby in the house first and change her diaper and am planning on feeding her and putting her down for a nap.

I notice that Katelyn still hasn't come in the house, yet, so I go out to the car to see if she needs help getting out or something. She is acting suspiciously. She is trying to hide something, holding her hands over the pocket of her dress. She does this often -- usually it's to conceal something she just destroyed (ripped apart, drew on, pulled off, crunched, etc.) So, I move her hand and reach into her pocket...and find a pack of Lifesavers! Yes, it had been semi-destroyed. The outer wrapper was all ripped off (later found on the floor of the car), so just a roll of colored lifesavers were showing through the white inner wrapper, a few of which were already missing! I knew we didn't have any Lifesavers around, so it could only mean one thing! I holler, "Did you STEAL this from Dick's?" She nods her head, YES. (I guess I should at least give that to her, she could've piled on another crime and LIED about it.)



I am sooo mad! Maybe even furious! I knew the right thing to do was to go back to Dick's RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT and make her confess & "make restitution!" But, I am already home! It's a 10 minute drive each way. The baby needs a nap. I'll have to reload the baby back in the car and haul everyone into the store....It wasn't convenient. I WISHED I DIDN'T HAVE TO DO IT! For a split second, I even tell myself, "It's OK, you don't have to do anything - just let it go!" BUT, IT WASN'T OK! I tell her we are going back now and she will have to tell them what she did and pay them [her own money] for it. She starts to CRY & CRY saying, "I just can't do it!" I was like, "OHHH...if you can STEAL it, you CAN tell them what you've done." I even tell her that the Police take people who STEAL to jail! Oh, that got the crying going to a louder volume/higher intensity! I didn't care if it made her cry at this point. I'll for sure be winning, "Mother of the Year," don't ya think?! :)

I called Matt and told him he needed to "do something about this" and then gave Katelyn the "Just-wait-until-your-father-gets-home" speech. The thing that made me the maddest (is that a word?) - besides the fact that it was SOO EXTREMELY INCONVENIENT for me, was that she has stolen toys from my friend's house the last two times she has gone there with me. I made her take those back, too (she stood on the porch crying in front of her) but apparently she doesn't "GET IT!" Oh my word! I have a Klepto on my hands.

So, anyway, I got the baby back in her car seat. Katelyn had unattached her car seat from the seat & taken her shoes off in the meantime, too. So, I had to get that all put back together [wasting more of my time] and we were on our way.

I gave Katelyn her ziploc bag of money and we walked up to the Customer Service Desk. By the pitiful look on Katelyn's face, I think the lady instantly knows what we are there for. I pull the mangled pack of Lifesavers out of my pocket and tell the lady I found them after we got home and Katelyn was here to pay for them. The lady says, "Uh Oh!" Katelyn starts to whimper/frown/shake. And the lady gives me a wink. Well, I'm not in the mood to be winked at - I am not amused by any of this! They find a new pack of lifesavers that she can scan and charge Katelyn the $0.81. The lady tells her that she is such a "big girl" to come back & pay for them. She tells her she is really proud of her. She thanks her for being honest enough to come back immediately. I am a horrible mother and was kind of thinking, "Enough already with the praising - don't make her feel good - SHE STOLE!" (At an inconvenient time, I might add!) But, I guess if I wasn't so mad, I'd think everything she tells her is good and true. EXCEPT for the next part. The lady went on to tell her, "Since you've paid for the Lifesavers, they're yours! You can eat them now!" And for the first time since being in the store, Katelyn smiles. OH NO SHE DOESN'T! She will not be rewarded! Those Lifesavers are now mine. The lady told me, "We've all been here. We've all been here." trying to console me, I guess. But, REALLY, I hadn't "been there" before today. Quite unusual, you might think, but it's true. That explains your overreaction, you might judge. Did I mention it didn't happen at a convenient time?! (Does anything ever?) Should I just be counting my blessings that this was the FIRST?

I watched the clock. The whole return process takes 28 minutes. And then I still have to feed the baby and put her to sleep when I get home. All that wasted time - and gas! I still haven't decided if she will pay me money, too, for my time & trouble. Katelyn kept trying to tell me that the lady said she could have the lifesavers, now. Too bad that lady is not her mother, huh?! I tell her she is lucky they didn't call the Police while we were there! I need to re-read a storybook on STEALING and memorize those lines, too, huh?! She commits to me she will not do it again!

All I can say is, she BETTER have learned a lesson from this. I hope she remembers it for a lifetime! (So much so, she uses it in a Sacrament Mtg. talk!) Then the 28 minutes will have been worth it! (But, I still think it'd be better if she never did it!)