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IF FLOGGING DOESN'T CURE STEALING IN CHILDREN: THEN WHAT WILL?

 IF FLOGGING DOESN'T CURE STEALING IN CHILDREN: THEN WHAT WILL?

Unfortunately, this is not an expose on how to deal with kids that steal maybe because I actually haven't found any solutions or way out of this in one even after asking a few veteran teachers, I end up getting that deep concerned look that says 'hmm, we really don't know

I have recently been in a space where two little children were being punished for stealing, I must confess in one of the cases though this boy was only twelve years old, I couldn't tell if he was lying or saying the truth.

The teachers around just swung into a full flogging mode in order to get the truth out of the child. I have issues with that maybe because I had a similar issue when I was a child, around junior secondary school I was accused of stealing by a friend of mine, she stole her neighbor's phone and when she was confronted about it accused me of stealing the phone and giving it to her. I knew I didn't steal any phone, so when I was asked about it, I said I wasn't aware of any phone issue, next thing my parents went into flogging mode to "get the truth out of me" the parents of the girl who had stolen the phone believed their daughter who had denied ever taking it, everybody went all out on me using different strategies to get me to say I took the phone, guess what? After a while, I just agreed I took the phone so that everyone leaves me alone.

Miss Agnes in class with her pupils with Tosin from Operation write well
After I had confessed everyone was relieved to have "gotten the truth out of me" when in reality they had helped to shield the real thief and liar. This was a very painful experience for me as a teenager because I knew I was innocent but the odds were just against me as it felt like saying I did it would give me some relief from all the torture that was going on at the time while in reality, the real thief went free and untouched.

From that experience, I know for sure that flogging and emotionally blackmailing a child into confessing a theft doesn't really work effectively, at least it didn't work for me and to be honest, that is definitely not an effective way to get a child to has stolen to confess.

The question of how to deal with children who steal is one puzzle I am still trying to fix, I will be glad if you can share any strategies that you use that has worked for you.

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