Go ahead," said the woman behind the counter.
A held out the plastic radio.
A stole this," I said carefully and sheepishly, barely able to get the words out audibly. My grandmother urged me on with a nod of her head. "I'm sorry."
The woman took the toy and simply said, "Thank you young man!"
My grandmother and she both smiled. This was by far the most poignant moral lesson I had learned that far in my childhood and still stands out as the most vivid memory of childhood moral learning. I believe that many young children do not know what stealing or lying mean until they suffer the repercussions or until an adult that they respect points out that their actions are harmful. The incident with the radio taught me that stealing was morally wrong because I trusted my grandmother's judgment. Without her guidance I might not have realized that I had...
To my child's mind, toys were just toys: I played with them at home and school and they just magically appeared. When I saw that I had disappointed her by taking the radio from the store, I became acutely aware that I had done something bad, although not until later did I really understand what that was. After I apologized and returned the radio, I became more aware of the concept of value, of ownership, and of the improper nature of stealing. Returning the radio made me increasingly aware of the concept of personal belongings and of boundaries. Furthermore, my grandmother and the woman at the store forgave me after I apologized. If I had been unnecessarily harshly punished for my actions, I would probably have ended up rebelling. Therefore, the lesson not only tells others that stealing is wrong, it illustrates how children can be disciplined without being unnecessarily harsh.
