"Money Money Money Money. Money."
Abbie has been stealing money from school. I’ve pulled several coins and a few paper bills out of her pants pockets over the past few days. It’s all play money, and I don’t think anyone has noticed it’s missing. There are worse things for her to bring home from preschool, such as the class pet or some sort of disease, but I’d rather she not get in the habit of bringing things home unless they’ve been explicitly given to her.
Since I’ve never caught her sticky fingers in action, I can only assume this money comes from her preschool. I have several clues linking this money to her preschool. First, we don’t own any play money like this, so I know it came from outside the house. Second, I know her preschool has play money like this, although that’s hardly enough evidence to convict anyone in a non-Texas court of law. Third, this money only appears on preschool days. Now we’re into serious evidence.
I don’t mind having the money around the house. Abbie obviously likes the money or she wouldn’t have taken it in the first place. When she empties her pockets at home, the money just becomes one more plaything littering the floor. I need to watch her outside the house, though. A couple days ago, Abbie spotted a coin-operated gumball machine in a store. She wanted one, and I told her no. Demonstrating frightful resourcefulness, she pulled a coin from her pocket, announced, “It’s a penny,” and started for the machine. Fortunately I stopped her before she could jam the mechanism.
Taking this money isn’t a big deal, besides the violation of the whole “stealing is wrong” principle. I’m sure three-year-olds inadvertently take things from their preschool all the time. Parents just pack it into the backpack the next day and send it to school again. The coins are cheap, plastic, and plentiful, so I don’t imagine it’s a huge loss if they never make it back.
Still, I put all of her coins into a plastic bag and slipped it into her backpack. I hope the paper money is easily replaced because I throw those away after pulling those crumpled wads out of her tiny pockets.
Giving the money back might not be as easy as I thought. The bag of coins was still in her bag today after preschool. A note was also in her bag asking, “Do you want us to keep this money?” Maybe it didn’t come from preschool after all.
Since I’ve never caught her sticky fingers in action, I can only assume this money comes from her preschool. I have several clues linking this money to her preschool. First, we don’t own any play money like this, so I know it came from outside the house. Second, I know her preschool has play money like this, although that’s hardly enough evidence to convict anyone in a non-Texas court of law. Third, this money only appears on preschool days. Now we’re into serious evidence.
I don’t mind having the money around the house. Abbie obviously likes the money or she wouldn’t have taken it in the first place. When she empties her pockets at home, the money just becomes one more plaything littering the floor. I need to watch her outside the house, though. A couple days ago, Abbie spotted a coin-operated gumball machine in a store. She wanted one, and I told her no. Demonstrating frightful resourcefulness, she pulled a coin from her pocket, announced, “It’s a penny,” and started for the machine. Fortunately I stopped her before she could jam the mechanism.
Taking this money isn’t a big deal, besides the violation of the whole “stealing is wrong” principle. I’m sure three-year-olds inadvertently take things from their preschool all the time. Parents just pack it into the backpack the next day and send it to school again. The coins are cheap, plastic, and plentiful, so I don’t imagine it’s a huge loss if they never make it back.
Still, I put all of her coins into a plastic bag and slipped it into her backpack. I hope the paper money is easily replaced because I throw those away after pulling those crumpled wads out of her tiny pockets.
Giving the money back might not be as easy as I thought. The bag of coins was still in her bag today after preschool. A note was also in her bag asking, “Do you want us to keep this money?” Maybe it didn’t come from preschool after all.
posted by Matt at
11:12 PM
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