by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: October 14, 2009   Last Updated: February 23, 2011

Shoplifting is a crime that your teenager might have to live with for the rest of his/her life. If your teenager is arrested for shoplifting it will go to court. If your child is convicted of shoplifting, the record will be sealed once your teen turns eighteen years old. The record is still there though. It can haunt your child in the future, that is for sure. Some teens have a tendency to shoplift. They think it is fun or they want to impress a friend. Maybe there was something they want and you aren't willing to buy it. It doesn't really matter why your teen is shoplifting, it only matters that he/she needs to learn to stop doing it.

How to deal with a teen's tendency to shoplift:

Make Them Take it Back

The most important thing to do if you catch your teen shoplifting is to make them take it back to where they got it from. It is important that your teen face the clerk in the store where the offense occurred. Embarrassment is the name of the game in this consequence. Your teen will be extremely embarrassed to have to do this. It means admitting fault. It is likely that this will be enough to stop your teen from shoplifting in the future to avoid being embarrassed again.

Other Consequences

There are other consequences that should follow the above one. Grounding or whatever other form of discipline that you have in place should occur as well. Do not laugh this off. If you do, your teen will continually repeat the same actions throughout life. This could have your teen ending up as an adult who spends most of their life in jail over small things.

Counseling

If your teen's tendency to shoplift is habitual, it may be time to get him/her some counseling. It is difficult to work some things through on your own. You may seek counseling too. It may help give you some ideas that you haven't thought of before to get the behavior to stop.

Discussion

Parents need to talk to their teenagers about why shoplifting hurts everyone. Shoplifting isn't just about the value of the merchandise stolen. For each item that is stolen, the store will have to make up for that price somewhere. They are not going to take a loss. For this reason, all the products in the store are subject to a price increase. That means that every person who makes a purchase is actually also paying for the person who stole something. Your child may not realize it, but when he/she makes an actual purchase, he/she will be paying for the items for which he/she stole. It is better to keep the prices down so it doesn't cost as much to pay for something in the first place.

Shoplifting makes things difficult for everyone. A teenager who has a tendency to shoplift is eventually going to pay the price for it one way or the other. It is better to deal with these situations now in a tough manner so that your teen doesn't end up paying an even higher price later in front of a judge. No one is going to excuse this type of behavior. It is inexcusable and teens with a tendency to do it need to stop.

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