A Late Chat Production
It is two weeks before Christmas. Your mother always sends your two sons, eight year old Mark and eleven year old Luke, money to get a Christmas gift. The money arrived yesterday and the boys plan to combine their funds to buy a video game they have been wanting.
Today your family is volunteering at your church's toy drive. You all will be organizing and wrapping gifts. Your sons enjoy helping to wrap gifts. There is time before the volunteer project for some shopping. You need to buy a toy for the drive and Mark and Luke want to buy their game. You go to four different stores and the video game that the boys want is sold out everywhere. Clerks at all four stores say they do not expect to have any until after Christmas. You encourage the boys to save their money and buy the game when it is back in stock after Christmas. You all head on to the toy drive.
As Mark and Luke are wrapping gifts they see the game they want - the one that is not available anywhere. The boys talk privately and decide to "buy" the game. Luke slips the game in a backpack he was carrying while Mark takes their money and puts it in the donation box. The boys continue to work but are excited to have the new game.
When you all get home the boys start playing the game. You notice it and ask where it came from. The boys explain how they saw the game at the drive and bought it. The game is now opened and in use. You tell the boys they stole the game and that they are in trouble. They protest saying, "But we paid for it."
You send Mark and Luke to wait in their room while you calm down and think about how to handle the matter. Yes, the boys are subject to spanking if needed.
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How will you handle the matter?