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Re: Any advice? (silly question)
Scooby I notice that at the beginning of the thread you say that your niece is an only child, I'm an only child and perhaps I can provide a little light on what its like to be an only child. Before anyone reads further on this is NOT a poor me exercise its purely as I see how it was for me.
Right firstly I'd say that compared to other kids with siblings being an only child can be a pretty lonely life, no one to play with, christmas/birthday time spent opening pressies on your own and trying to play monopoly, scrabble or whatever is no fun with just one person playing, no matter how much your parents try to play its really just not the same is it.
Next as you grow up all your parents hopes and dreams are focused on the one child, so no matter what happens, big or small it is all focused on the one person, no older/younger siblings for your parents to spread those hopes and fears round. When it comes to your schooling its all focused on you and how well/bad you are doing, its all pressure and not nice at all.
Then you have the normal teenage things we all go through, puberty, noticing the boys/girls, wanting to go out partying etc etc and instead of mum and dad having been there done that with the other siblings, yet again its all focused on the one child.
Don't get me wrong hun I had the most marvelous of parents and a wonderful life with them but being an only child can be a pretty lonely place to be in. I won't go on further how it can be as you get older, perhaps that can be at a later date.
All I'm trying to say is perhaps this might be something to do with how your niece is behaving, how she's wanting to stay in touch with her friends, be part of the crowd etc. I can remember being grounded once and sitting at home wondering what the hell my friends were all up to and that was the days before mobile phones were invented, it was a killer. All this could be one of the reasons for stealing money, so she can buy credit for the phone, in my case when I was young I used to buy sweets and hand them out to be part of the crowd. Perhaps her mum and dad could get her a phone and allow her X amount of credit per week for say texting / calls and she could do some chores to pay for it, there's some great phone deals out there and this could go someway towards getting a truce between the warring parties.
Scooby I notice that at the beginning of the thread you say that your niece is an only child, I'm an only child and perhaps I can provide a little light on what its like to be an only child. Before anyone reads further on this is NOT a poor me exercise its purely as I see how it was for me.
Right firstly I'd say that compared to other kids with siblings being an only child can be a pretty lonely life, no one to play with, christmas/birthday time spent opening pressies on your own and trying to play monopoly, scrabble or whatever is no fun with just one person playing, no matter how much your parents try to play its really just not the same is it.
Next as you grow up all your parents hopes and dreams are focused on the one child, so no matter what happens, big or small it is all focused on the one person, no older/younger siblings for your parents to spread those hopes and fears round. When it comes to your schooling its all focused on you and how well/bad you are doing, its all pressure and not nice at all.
Then you have the normal teenage things we all go through, puberty, noticing the boys/girls, wanting to go out partying etc etc and instead of mum and dad having been there done that with the other siblings, yet again its all focused on the one child.
Don't get me wrong hun I had the most marvelous of parents and a wonderful life with them but being an only child can be a pretty lonely place to be in. I won't go on further how it can be as you get older, perhaps that can be at a later date.
All I'm trying to say is perhaps this might be something to do with how your niece is behaving, how she's wanting to stay in touch with her friends, be part of the crowd etc. I can remember being grounded once and sitting at home wondering what the hell my friends were all up to and that was the days before mobile phones were invented, it was a killer. All this could be one of the reasons for stealing money, so she can buy credit for the phone, in my case when I was young I used to buy sweets and hand them out to be part of the crowd. Perhaps her mum and dad could get her a phone and allow her X amount of credit per week for say texting / calls and she could do some chores to pay for it, there's some great phone deals out there and this could go someway towards getting a truce between the warring parties.
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