Teaching children about crime prevention
As parents, it is our job to raise our children to be socially responsible members of society. It is never too early to teach our kids that breaking the law is rarely a good idea.
Make simple to follow rules with simple straight forward consequences. For example, “If you break something because your were mad, then you have to fix/replace the thing and you get X number of minutes of time out.”
However, crime prevention lessons should also include talks about when it’s OK to tell a responsible adult about a crime. Young children respond well to examples and role playing for these types of talks. Such examples might be, “If you see someone take something without paying for it, tell the store clerk,” or “If you have a friend who is very sad and might hurt themselves or others, tell the guidance councilor or Mom and Dad.” Even teens respond well to guidance in crime prevention. And all children need to see us, the parents, living by our own lessons.
Above all, whether it’s admitting to doing something wrong or returning a dropped wallet, we need to praise our kids when they step up and do the right thing.