Q&A: Stealing Among Children
Stealing Among Children
Question
Hello and blessings to the Rabbi!
I’ll start with the question:
My oldest daughter, almost 11 years old, yesterday took 200 shekels from the bag of the non-Jewish cleaning woman who works in our home.
This morning the cleaning woman called, and we found the money in the girl’s bag.
My question is: how do you deal with something like this??
It should be noted that the girl is smart, talented, happy, and positive; she has neither social difficulties nor any visible distress.
Financially, I believe in independence, and she always has her own money in her wallet.
I give her almost everything she wants, of course within normal limits.
So this is not coming from lack of money or any kind of distress.
So why?
Where does this come from?
And again, thank you, Rabbi Michi.
And sorry if I’m going beyond the kinds of topics usually asked about here.
Answer
Hello. This is a question for a psychologist. There are people who suffer from kleptomania (an urge to steal, unrelated to distress or need). In my opinion, it would be worthwhile to find out from the girl whether there was something that caused this (she wanted to buy something special, she owed someone money) and to discuss it with her. If you don’t find any particular reason, it would be advisable to consult a psychologist.