14yr old son with sticky fingers

[MrsBear74]

My son has been caught stealing at school and it was quite serious - he’s like a magpie, started off with little things in primary and has had issues of a similar nature all his school days. He used to have behaviour issues but got help with lots of support along the way and has improved immensely u til this issue a couple of months ago when school contacted me! Help...

[Janine-RO · Accepted solution]

Hi @MrsBear74 , 

Welcome to the ReachOut Parents community , and thanks for posting -  I hope that you find the community here helpful. 

That sounds very stressful for you, I imagine it must have been a shock to get that call from the school. I'm wondering if your son has been able to explain to you what his motivations for stealing were? I.e. was it motivated by wanting the object he stole, or peer pressure, or lack of impulse control? What approach is the school taking towards the theft, in terms of consequences for your son? 

14 can be a pretty tricky age, and making impulsive decisions can certainly come with the territory, it must be really concerning as a parent to see that kind of behaviour occur again when you say he had been improving immensely.  Does he still have a relationship with the professional supports that were helpful last time? 

Also, just to let you know I'm just moving this post to the "concerned about my teen" section of the forum, so that other users who are able to offer advice and support are more likely to see it  

[Janine-RO · Accepted solution]

Hi @MrsBear74 , 

Welcome to the ReachOut Parents community , and thanks for posting -  I hope that you find the community here helpful. 

That sounds very stressful for you, I imagine it must have been a shock to get that call from the school. I'm wondering if your son has been able to explain to you what his motivations for stealing were? I.e. was it motivated by wanting the object he stole, or peer pressure, or lack of impulse control? What approach is the school taking towards the theft, in terms of consequences for your son? 

14 can be a pretty tricky age, and making impulsive decisions can certainly come with the territory, it must be really concerning as a parent to see that kind of behaviour occur again when you say he had been improving immensely.  Does he still have a relationship with the professional supports that were helpful last time? 

Also, just to let you know I'm just moving this post to the "concerned about my teen" section of the forum, so that other users who are able to offer advice and support are more likely to see it  

[MrsBear74]

Thank you so much for the speedy reply! My son doesn’t really communicate well and seems to hide things from me...his support network isn’t as prominent as before although he does have a little bit of support from guidance teacher at school.