[marbles]

Originally Posted by graciousmomma

I agree with what Aerynne said. When you find that he has taken something, go with him to personally return it and apologize for taking it, or to pay for it if it was from a store. I would also give him opportunities to earn some money through some age appropriate chores (or from being a helper to you) so that he is able to buy some things here and there that are just his, and explain to him that people work to have money to buy the things that they want and need. I get being worried about it for the future He is 5 and a half, and there is a lot of time to help him work through this. A lot can change with time, and love, and guidance, and teaching taking responsibility for one's actions, and making amends.

I know in my head that this doesn't doom him, it's just hard to separate worry from appropriate action right now. As for earning things, he won't do that. He will do chores that he is required to do, but he won't do them for money. I wish he would, because he loves owning things, we've tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, but he just won't.

Originally Posted by FlyingBlueKiwi

Does he have an emotional attachment to other inanimate objects, like at home?

Yes, he does. He loves to have things that are only his. He was never one for lovies or carrying things around all the time, but he has always been a collector. He collects anything and everything. He has special rocks and sticks, he has a nature collection, a treasure collection, and he is VERY attached to toys and clothes that are his.

To be more clear about this, he has never stolen from a store as far as I can tell. He always wants to buy something (we used to have to practice going to Target without buying anything at all because he would throw a fit when we didn't buy him something) but as far as I know he has never stolen like that. He takes things from other people in the house, like the buttons for instance came off my swim suit and I had them up with my earrings where I keep them on the mantel. He went looking in my things up there and took them. I found them when putting him to bed that night. It's always like that. Sometimes as soon as I point out that something is mine, he gives it back. Sometime he argues that it should be his or he will say something like "thank you for giving it to me". He took things from the beach house we rented (quietly put it in his backpack, I found them when we got home), he took things from my parent's house (a bunch of little things he packed in his suitcase), he took things from the neighbor's house (we live downtown, houses are close together, it wasn't hard to do). He just kind of assumes everything is his to take.