Hey ladies , I'm a single mother to two children son 11 and daughter 7.been single for almost 4 years and recently started seeing someone.its been about 6 months and we decided to introduce our children.my kids been mostly good but my daughter has started behaving strange and stealing things at school with her best friend.Im not sure how or what to do , she's had her iPad and phone taken away I have stopped her from playing with her friend .any advise please and thank you
4 Replies
Ipad and phone, are you talking about the 7 year old or 11 year old 😬. If it's a very new behaviour it could be she easily follows what her friend is doing or she might be unhappy with the new set up and she's starting to act out.
What do you mean by stealing?
As in purposeful taking of things? Or forgetting she borrowed a friends pencils and bringing them home?
7 is such a young and innocent age that you should be asking a lot of questions to find out what’s going on before punishment.
Also apart from the ‘stealing’ what do you mean by behaving strange?
I've been trying to think of how to word this without being a dick, so please know that's really not my intention but I also feel like I have to say this directly.
She's 7 and has a phone. Do you not think that there may be a correlation there in terms of behaviour?
Is she on social media? Tiktok? Other interactive apps? Are you diligent about monitoring her devices and supervising her internet usage? Do you know who's she's talking to and what content she's accessing?
I'd be very surprised if the phone isn't at least partially contributing to the problem.
Maybe it's also partially due to your new relationship. It could be for some other reason entirely.
Whatever it is, simply taking her tech away and banning her from playing with her friend isn't going to solve the root of the issue, you need to dig a little deeper!
In a nice way here because we are here to support you. Please don’t dismiss her as being naughty and punishing her.
What if something has been happening to her? New strange behaviour. New partner. Always get to the bottom of it and don’t dismiss anything. Speak to her alone and openly. doesn’t sound like it’s a big issue though what’s happening.
7 years is way too young to be having a phone but she isn’t my child and I think any age in primary school is too young. We all have different views on it but your daughter could be up to anything on there. You need to speak to her regarding this also and make sure nothing is going on.
The problem here with this post is, it sounds like she is just being a 7 year old and you may be over reacting to it or she really has problems and you need to get to the bottom of it. Something is going on.
Sit her down and explain to her about stealing. Speak to the school and have them call her in and give her a warning so she learns from it. She probably just thinks it’s fun with her friend and nothing more.
The new partner maybe the reason for all this. You might be ready for him but she might not and may not know how to deal with it all and her emotions.
It doesn’t seem that bad really, there must be more to it.