After I was clued in and back on the hip-Dad train, I started to think about the bigger issue at hand. Most businesses have a zero tolerance theft policy; one strike and you are out kind of thing followed by prosecution. Do you have such a policy at home, and if so, how strictly do you enforce it?

Like everything else good or bad, behaviors start at home or at least they are first exhibited there. This calls to attention the need for parents to be vigilant, so as to detect and correct a misguided behavior at its earliest début. Detecting the behavior is easy enough, but how do you correct it?

Theft, petty or otherwise, is about invasion of privacy and violation of your right to property far more than physical loss. While some children may respond to a firm reprimand, most will understand the error of their ways by feeling the loss themselves, or experiencing the embarrassment that comes from such activity.

When I was young, my friend had a camera I really liked. It was very inexpensive but it didn't matter. I liked it and therefore I jacked it. Like most kids I was smart enough to help myself to it, but not smart enough to cover my tracks. Soon my father found out about it, and when I regained consciousness, I realized that my clothes were from the previous season.

I know another parent whose son stole a pack of gum from a store. She found the gum when they got home, called the store owner and asked him to speak to her son and scare the daylights out of him. She took the boy to the store and the owner asked him to name his punishment or he'd call the police. He put the fear of God in him and the boy never did it again.

So regardless of the situation, there is a fix for it. Giving a child a dose of their own medicine may be the best cure. And for us parents, load yourselves with a strong cup of coffee, a Red Bull, or whatever your choice of alertness booster may be, because we cannot afford to fall asleep at the switch.