Making An Example.

[Moonrakers]

I went to 7-11 with my little girl earlier. Of course she wanted sweets and stuff but it was getting late and she had had enough and so I said no even before we went there. She is 5 years old and has learnt already that when Daddy says no, he means NO.

So we go to 7-11 and I just buy milk which is all that I went for, my daughters requests for sweets fell on deaf as as her and I had already made an agreement.

When leaving I noticed that she had something behind her back, she had stolen a chocolate. She was trying to hide it from me and so clearly she knew that what she was doing was wrong. My response was to immediately take her back into the shop and tell her to say sorry for what she had done. I made a point of drawing attention to it so that lots of people knew what she had done and to their credit the 7-11 staff recognised what I was doing and played along with me even an act of calling the police. It was all going well until.....

Some big fat bit tittied tit pipes up with "Kow my drak look khun loor"" = "Don't you love your kid?" and then proceeds to purchase the said chocolate for my daughter.

I stood jaw agape, and to be fair I think that most at that time shared my thoughts.

But what can one do?.................

[Moonrakers]

Please excuse the spelling mistake in the title.

[eek]

What did you do when he purchased he candy Moonrakers? How did your daughter react to that? Must have been very frustrating!

Did you play out the scene for a long time, or was it more quick? I think wouldnt be good to go on tooooo long, but good for her to get a strong lesson for sure!

Im not a parent, so of course i cant speak as one, but i did use to run a kids workshop for several years, with a lot of kids of different ages, and many issues came up that needed to be handled well.

I dont know how Thai culture in general would view what you did, but personally I think you were right to take her back in and have her apologise.

Parenthood..toughest job in the world!

[Moonrakers]

It wasn't a long drawn out thing eek. Just enough to make sure she understood that what she did was wrong.

How did my daughter react when the woman bought the candy? Her eyes lit up, which was incredibly frustrating as it defeated the purpose and sent the wrong message.

And what did I do? To be honest I did nothing because I didn't know how else to react, even after thinking about it I am not sure how best to respond. Maybe I did the best thing by ignoring it.

Edited October 9, 2009 by Moonrakers

[WhiteShrek]

Excellent post. Had to laugh. I read it going thru point by point thinking me too, that's what I'd do. Particularly liked the ending that after all your efforts some Thai person completely undermined it and bought her the chocolate.

Honestly the only bit I would have done differently, is I wouldn't have made it so public. Perhaps more out of my own embarassment. I would have done the same as you though + take her back, give the chocolate back + make her apologise.

As for the Thai lady, I could well have been speechless as well, but there's a very good chance that I'd have said "thank you, but I'd like my child to grow up with values that it's not acceptable to lie, cheat and steal". Would have been tempted to throw in some comments about chocolate making you fat as well, but probably would have resisted unless further provodked...

[britmaveric]

I would have left the chocolate on the counter regardless of the thai lady who paid for it. She will maybe mind her own business next time.

[nidge]

I would have done the same as britmaveric too. Either that or put them straight in the bin after walking out of the store.

I hate it when other people tell you how to bring up your children, often these people have the most ill disciplined kids you could imagine.