Isaac and the Yellow Crayon

Yesterday I noticed that Isaac had this yellow thing in his hand that I hadn’t seen before so I asked him what it was and he told me how he got it from Zack and it was a yellow fat crayon. So as I look closer I see that it has a price sticker on it from a store we had gone to the day before. I knelt down and asked Isaac if he had really gotten it from Zack or if he had gotten in from the store? I said tell mom the truth. So he did. He told me he got it from the store and that he took it because he never had a big fat yellow crayon like that and he wanted one because Naissa and Zack and Jade got lots of stuff for school and he didn’t get stuff.

Wow! Okay, well I had to take a quick moment to sort out my emotions from the fact that he stole this yellow crayon eraser from a store. I felt bad for him, because what he said was true. His siblings had gotten school supplies…because they are in school. He is at home with me and has access (well, approved access) to all kinds of supplies; they just aren’t specifically “his”.
When I told Jim about the yellow crayon, I asked his opinion on my dilemma. Should I make my son take it back to the store? I believe that is the right thing to do, however, the store is clear across town and as everybody knows gas ain’t cheap. I know it shouldn’t matter that the thing only cost 99 cents, it’s the fact that he took it! But let me tell you what happened when we did this with my other son…

Several years ago we had gone to Target as a family. When we got home we found that our other son had brought a gift card home with him. It obviously didn’t have any money on it, but he stole it from the store. He wanted it because of the picture on it, so he put it in his pocket. We decided he would have to return it to the store and confess what he had done and “pay the consequences” which would most likely be a stern talking to about how stealing is wrong and how you could go to jail etc…

So Jim takes him to the store and he confesses and goes to return the stolen gift card and the guy working there tells him, there’s nothing on it, it’s okay, it’s no big deal, you can keep it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the crap??

We then had to explain to our son how the guy working there was wrong, stealing is not okay…even if the item has no value. We did not allow him to keep it and I’m not sure he fully understood all that went on.

So my dilemma now, is what if I drive all the way back to this store and I encounter something similar? Can I consider this dealt with since I’ve taken the yellow crayon eraser…that says, “Jesus colors my world” on it by the way, away and explained how taking things that don’t belong to you is wrong?? UGH!!!