7:59 p.m. | 2002-09-10 My Stint As A Shoplifter. Once, my sister and I decided to each take something from the store without our mother�s permission. We were 6 and 5 years old, respectively. My mother always took all three of us kids grocery shopping because, well, she couldn�t leave us home alone. (My other sister was 7.) Or maybe she was just afraid to. And, I don�t recall her ever buying us anything we asked for, which at that age, consisted mostly of requests for candy, Captain Crunch or Spaghetti Os. If we did dare to pester her about wanting something, she would send us out to sit in the car by ourselves. Because, back then, you could leave your kids in the car alone while you shopped. At least where we lived. By the time we were teenagers, we learned to work that rule to our advantage and we purposely pestered her. Anyway, after much planning, my sister and I each took something and hid it under our ponchos. Ponchos were all the rage at the time and they happened to facilitate our thievery. We successfully made it out of the store and home with our stolen loot. Now, we didn�t have any concept of commerce at that age so we didn�t really understand we were stealing. We did understand that we were doing something wrong. We took something without asking permission first. I�m not sure what we thought our mother did at the checkout stand. I don�t think we noticed her doing anything, as I�m quite sure we were staring longingly at candy. Once we were home, we ran up to our room and triumphantly revealed and consumed our stolen goodies. My sister stole a candy bar. I stole a bottle of Flintstones Chewable Vitamins. Obviously, I suck at shoplifting so since then, I�ve left it up to the professionals. your thoughts? seed flower