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5-year-old girl in candy ‘arrest’

There’s a murmuring that young children have a lot in common with psychopaths: They can exhibit similar behaviour patterns, providing endless frustration to parents whose task it is to help them grow up into balanced individuals. Perhaps that’s why this US mom decided to teach her 5-year-old daughter a lesson when she was caught stealing sweets by sending her to jail, according to Mommyish.

Interrogation time

The frazzled mom then took to the internet to explain her actions. She tells how her daughter took some candy from a shop, something which is obviously wrong, so the mother then took her tiny daughter to the jail where she “presented evidence” to a police officer. The girl, she says, was clearly scared, and she had to keep herself from laughing…

The police officer accepted the girl’s apology, and she has apparently agreed never to steal again. [Of course, we know little children can lie with straight faces. Ed.]

Does shock treatment work?

Boundaries are great for establishing the ground rules for what’s acceptable behaviour. Of course, boundaries must remain in place and not be shifted when the child attempts to stretch them. Establishing and maintaining boundaries is a long-term task, however, and parents can lose momentum in this. A short, sharp shock may feel like an effective way of achieving results, but it can also cause trauma for the child.

That’s why the internet has had yet another split in opinions over this mom’s candy-stealing jailbird story. Some suggest that it’s a fabulous idea, while others have reacted in horror that a mother could put a small child through such trauma.

If you caught your child stealing, would you call the cops?



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