Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it's up to you to help them out. A selection of the best answers will appear in Saturday's paper.
This week's question: My nine-year-old son keeps stealing money from me. At first I thought it was just a "phase" and tried to deal with it sensitively. Then, last week, he stole from his own granny. We're not poor and we give him pocket money. What can I do to stop him?
Here are some of the answers we've so far received:
It sounds a bit drastic, but I wonder if you know any police officers? If a police officer came to your house, in uniform, and explained that stealing is serious and also illegal, it might scare him into understanding the potential consequences of his actions.
Jill, London
Wow, 24 years ago that was me. It carried on for quite a few years after that and eventually stopped. Like this child, I came from a comfortable background, but had a number of emotional problems both at school and at home. The parents should be looking at what pressures their child may be under from his peers as well as perhaps the amount of schoolwork he has. I know it is not a very British solution to a problem, but I would suggest they send their child to a child psychologist to try to find out why he is stealing.
Melanie McKay, London
What are your thoughts?
