Busted

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Kleptomania (from Greek: κλέπτειν, kleptein, "to steal", and μανία, "mania") is an irresistible urge to steal items of trivial value. People with this disorder are compelled to steal things, generally, but not limited to, objects of little or no significant value, such as pens, paper clips, paper and tape

We've got a little klepto in the classroom. Yesterday, we emptied his pockets 3 times and found everything from legos, rubber bands, pieces of paper, the plastic thing you take off a milk cartoon cap, a sock, a Candyland card, beads, pom pom balls...... all in a days work. This is the same kid who, we discovered earlier this year, was jacking entire stacks of drawing paper. Now whenever something is missing from the classroom, all the kids scream in unison, "CHECK GIOVANNI'S BACKPACK". Yesterday when I caught him stuffing toys in his pockets during clean-up time, the other children automatically assembled to shake their heads in disgust and vilify his actions with, "I'm not inviting Giovanni to my house because he's gonna steal all my toys!" (followed by chants and nods of agreement). I imagine life is like one big treasure hunt for the boy. So I get him, but I don't. Treasure hunts are awesome. But having no friends really sucks.

Today, caught him again with toys from another classroom. I told him to return the items and apologize to the other teacher. She responded with this....

Ms. Carla: Again, Giovanni? You know what, put those things back in your pocket. When your mom comes to pick you up, I want you to show her these things and tell her "Mom, look. I'm stealing things from my classroom again. Please help me. I don't want to steal anymore."

My coworkers and I joke that one day we'll see Giovanni on one of those NBC Dateline specials. His mom is going to be seated for an interview and she'll say something like, "you know....it all started in pre-school when he'd bring home pocketfuls of trash and toys."