This morning I had to run an errand north of the city, so I thought afterwards we could stop at a regular mall (an indoor mall with ample parking) for a little while. So I took the girls to the Lincolnwood Mall. I put Ruby in the umbrella stroller and Alli put her baby doll in a little doll stroller and we pushed our babies around the mall for a while.
Alli is really into copying me and matching me (ie- when I wear jeans, she wears jeans). She wanted to carry one little shopping bag on her stroller, like me. We browsed through several stores and then we had lunch at the food court. We had a very enjoyable time. I loaded the girls up in the car and went home, pleased with our little outing.
When we got home, I was putting some things away and I discovered a stow-away necklace in the shopping bag that Alli had on her stroller. My heart sank. I asked her about it and she said that she took it. We had a long talk and then I loaded up the girls again and drove up to the mall to return the stolen necklace.
I was not in a great mood. Stolen goods. Traffic. An all-day event.
We took the necklace back. The girl in the store thought Alli was so cute. She said, "Oh don't worry about it. It's okay." It was not okay. I know she was just trying to be nice, but I was trying to teach my 3 year old a lesson.
So since we were at the mall again, I decided to stop at a department store to get an Easter present for Andy. We were in Carson's for just a few minutes, then we walked back through the mall towards where we parked. Alli had to pee, and if you have ever had to find a bathroom in a department store with a freshly-potty-trained kid, you will know how frustrating and difficult it is (bonus: we had to find an elevator because we had a stroller and there was only a restroom on the second level... who designed this store!?).
Anyhow, I eventually got the girls out to the car again, loaded them up in car seats, and as I was folding the stroller, I discovered a nice pink tie tucked away in a pocket on our stroller.
The shoplifting bandit struck again.
We had a talk again. I got the girls out again. We went into the store again. Alli apologized again (luckily for me it was a different store). Again the nice lady at the desk said, "It's okay." Again, stealing is never okay.
Alli's total for the day was about $60 worth of goods.
I think we will be having a longer, more thorough talk with Alli.
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1 comments:
Wow. Pretty amazing for a little girl to get away with shoplifting twice in one day. At least you have a chance to really teach her about honesty and stealing before she gets old enough to make it a habit or do some real damage. Being a parent is crazy isn't it!
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