Our parents must have talked. I did the same exact thing as you and my mom did the same exact thing as yours - we drove right back to the store and she made me hand the gum back to the manager.

Guess what. . . I haven't stolen again! Great lesson learned; thanks Mom.

When I was around 10 years old, hung out with a kid that would try to steal strange items, like a fishing pole, just for the challenge. I thought, at the time, it was pretty funny, till I got a ride home from the cops for being with him. My mom told me, "don't do it again and I won't tell your father..." last time that happened!!!

My guess would be for the thrill of it. When I did diversion, most kids had the means or even the money in their pockets to pay, they were bored or succumbed to peer pressure. Some did it to fuel a secret addiction, the worst were the ones working for adults in organized crime. I don't think it's fair to always blame the parents. I saw plenty of hard working folks just trying to get by with an out of control teenager. Good kids can come from horrible homes & bad kids from good homes with good siblings. IMO, parenting is not always the determining factor on if someone grow into an honest person or not.

The funny thing is, Tom, that we lived in Idaho Falls at the time (1960/61)! I scanned your locale and got a chuckle.

+1

Growing up in Naperville in the 90's....and this was rampant. So was drug use.

Many kids just had parents that never paid attention to them, others had "friends" that just so happened to be their sperm/egg donors and gave them money.

Some kids wanted attention. Some kids wanted discipline. Some felt entitled to the stuff other kids had. I think there were a lot of causes, but it was a pretty easy outlet.

I shoplifted a few times as a kid. It was mostly to impress my friends that were shoplifting for attention or because of their sense of entitlement. I think that phase only lasted a few months with less than 10 items taken (mostly CDs).

kudos to legion....

I shoplifted once as a kid. A small item. Did it to see if I could. When I got outside it hit me.

"That was wrong". I felt very badly that I had done it.

Lesson learned.

Age 21 give or so is the cut off for when a person should have some sense of decency.

Let's not act like we are all so pure please.