Any idea why our kids steal and then deny doing it? No boundaries?

[InsaneCdn]

The "need for instant gratification" IS a need. Where does it come from? Why is he that way?
I don't have answers for your difficult child, of course.
But mine? Missed dxes, lacking appropriate interventions and accommodations at school, bullying, lack of friends, exhaustion, anxiety, depression... and the list goes on.

We're still fighting some of those items. And when they come up, so does this "neediness".
Each time around, though, he isn't stooping as low - snitching A chocolate bar, rather than the whole stack, or worse, money from my purse. And when we catch the little stuff, it isn't punished. It's a red flag, and we sit down with him and work it through. Because we can - we've gotten far enough to do that.

Having said all that... if there is a substance abuse problem, THAT changes the whole picture. The SA creates a different "neediness", and it's a whole different fix.

 

[JJJ]

With Eeyore (my little thief), I think it is a combination of his early childhood neglect and the need to take care of himself and a lack of theory of mind where he thinks that because he wants it, everyone else must want him to have it.

 

[TerryJ2]

I'm thinking my difficult child is like welcometowitsend's difficult child, in that he needs instant gratification. He moves before he thinks, and then it's usually too late. It's like that part of his brain is missing. I think the medications are helping slow him down a little ... "little" being the operative word.