DS toy stolen at school

[Mrsaskalotofquestions]

DS brought in a toy today for show & tell he showed three of his friends in the morning whilst they was hanging his coat up. He didn’t go in his bag until the end of the day when he went to get it out for show & tell. The toy and the container gone just the wrapper left.

Substitute teacher got all the kids to empty there bags.

Im horrified at the thought of a 9 year old stealing out another kids bag! Do I just accept it for what it is? I’m going to worry about sending him to school with anything now!

Therin lies the peril of taking toys to school. I used to put my sons initials on the toy in case it went AWOL

Sorry that this happened to your DS, especially when he was so excited to do show and tell with it. I hope that school manage to find it.

My approach to my DC has always been not to take something of theirs into school unless they are happy for it to be potentially lost or broken.

So much stuff sadly gets damaged, misplaced or occasionally taken by other kids at schools.

I don't know any school to do show and tell unless relevant to class work and then item needs to be handed in to teachers. Problem is school aren't responsible as they never saw item.

Sorry YABU. Never take anything in to school that could risk getting lost.

Would it help you to be less horrified that a 9yo child might steal if you imagine that 9yo having a tragic homelife, or having shitty parents who haven't taught right from wrong. Maybe speak with the usual teacher when they are back, I am sure they will have another crack at getting the truth out of the kids.

The toy and the container gone just the wrapper left.

Was it a brand new toy?

Was it in a kids bag?

I have never left DS take anything to school that he wouldn’t be happy to lose, or have broken

That just sends out a message that you can steal other peoples stuff because your parents cant/wont buy you one

Unfortunately this does happen. Last year in DD1's year (then year 4) this hapenned at least 3 times, parents putting messages on asking all the parents to check their child's bag as an item very precious to their child had gone missing at school. I dont think any of them were ever found. Children were accused by other children and it got a bit nasty, with groups of children tipping out other children's bags

Children should be able to bring things in to show their class, but in reality it just seems to lead to trouble, and I ask mine to not take in anything

OP I hope your child gets their toy back, but be prepared that they probably won't.

There’s a chance he did take it out and put it down somewhere. I assume it is labelled with his name? I image it will find its way back to you.

Was there a reason for show and tell, especially for a 9 year old? Even in year 1 we don't allow this (with the exception of awards from outside school like football trophies which can be brought in on Monday to celebrate with the class).

We have a rule of no toys for this reason. And if parents really insist on sharing something (again usually this might happen in KS1 but not any higher) they can send the teacher a message with a photo of the item.

Maybe your school needs to stop the toys in school (and hopefully have a word with the culprit).

Anyone else not buying it that a 9 year old is doing show and tell? Then the teacher asked them to tip out all their bags? Seems very unlikely to happen.

In any class or year group there a going to be a couple of thieves. I'm surprised the teachers encourage this for show and tell. Generally personal stuff, Pokemon cards etc. are banned in school.

Age 9 seems very old for Show n Tell in school? What kind of toy went missing?

Yhe there’s a boy in DD’s class with stickey fingers and they’re 6… never send her in with anything of value.

Unfortunately some kids will steal stuff. I’m 53 and can remember when I was in primary school a girl was stealing crisps, cakes and biscuits from other kids packed lunches. Her Dad was the village GP so not from a poor home either

This is why they don’t let children take toys into school. At our school they’ll let children very occasionally do show and tell but with a very interesting stick or something- not a toy, for this very reason.

Every few weeks our year 4 teacher is pleading with parents not to send toys into school as it causes problems (like this)

The children should have to give the teacher the items at the beginning of class, teacher keeps until show and tell

I loathe ‘show-off-and-tell’. I am happy for children to share a brilliant picture they’ve drawn, a sports medal, or dance certificate. But I don’t want them showing off an expensive toy (for the reasons in the OP), or talking about their lovely trip to Chessington (which always seems like a celebration of spending money).

Many schools ban toys coming in. I think that’s sensible, as it means that the teacher doesn’t have to waste time dealing with the fallout of missing toys.

My 22 year old DD is still sore about her missing Lotso’ Hugging Lego Bear, btw. When she took it into school I told her if it went missing I would have limited sympathy. Sure enough it was taken. And yes, I gave her very limited sympathy.

My dd had two things stolen when taking them for show and tell since September. We now send a photo of the item she wants to discuss on the app so she can still join in without taking the item. We were told the teacher isn’t allowed to ask the children to check their bags etc so it’s not worth her taking stuff in anymore.

No it doesn’t. Understanding something is not the same as condoning it

Sorry to hear, your son must be very upset if it was something precious he was excited to show
😔

It happened at our school, two Labubu dolls brought in by friends for playtime were stolen on the same day, and an older child had £100 cash stolen from their bag (parents are separated and they were taking saved birthday money from their mum house to their dad's house on changeover day for a shopping trip).

The school took both very seriously, locked down classes and the teacher and head checked all bags before children were allowed to leave, but neither were found. It's a hard lesson to learn that you can't trust everyone and shouldn't take anything special into school.

Do you have a class WhatsApp group? My friend’s daughter had a couple of things stolen from her bag and her mum put a message in the group and two mothers messaged her privately to say their children had brought the things home. So she did get them back.