I have a 12 year old son that constantly lies and steals from his parents. We have tried many ways to stop this behavior but he just continues. Is there and help for this type of problem? There has been two occasions where he stayed over at someone's house and items got missing and we believe that he took them. We have no trust in him what so ever. Can you help?:confused: :confused:

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, how about beating his a s s. No ones too old to get a beating from his parents. (believe me I know)

Scared straight programs where they go to jail and talk to prisoners, or if you know police officers or sheriff deputies, you could have you child spend some time in a holding cell to see what prison would feel like.

Has anybody sat down and talked with him yet? One of the most effective ways to deal with a senior preteen would be to have the people who have fallen victim to this behaviour there for the confrontation. It gives him a chance to say sorry, it allows him to be embarrassed for what he has done and take full responsibility. It also allows people to tell him how it affected them, and what these trust issues have cost him now ( No more sleep overs at Jimmy's house).
But I think being in a room with so many disappointed people that he has let down for doing something so very worthless, it should stop this behaviour. At twelve I never valued trust until I stole my dads special coin, I bought candy with it. I still feel bed after he told me how it hurt him... Good luck

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Originally Posted by giani513

Scared straight programs where they go to jail and talk to prisoners, or if you know police officers or sheriff deputies, you could have you child spend some time in a holding cell to see what prison would feel like.

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O yeah I did that to my little cousin who used to shoplift and steal, except he didn't know it was a scared straight program. I hired some people I knew, one was a cop, and one was a friend. My friend the cop came and arrested him and took him to a multiple people jail cell, then my friend pretended to be a gangster and started messing with my cousin. All the while I was actin' like I was trying to get him out, and then when I thought he had enough I got him out. To this day he thinks he actually went to prison. He hasn't shoplifted or stole anything since that experience. It is definitely something I would recommend.

I have a similar problem and my som is now 17. He really did not start lying and more recently stealing until about 3 years ago. He was so good at the lying I was the only one that believed he was doing it. He is a spiritual, sweet hearted boy who is very immature, childlike. He does have a conscience, however, he believes the embellishments he uses to sell his "version of the truth". He has struggled in school, ADD and more recently diagnosed with A form of OCD. The is a link. It is not simply a story of poor character, I am convinced of this. As a mom whose journey is unresolved as my son reaches adulthood, I want to say... I sympathize. Love your son,