You have to admit, needing to pay for a family trip to Brazil every year is a rather unusual financial situation.
If your kid is going to the mall with no money, then from the merchant’s point of view, what are they doing there? It is called loitering…and that is if they are not coming into that merchant’s shop, pointing at stuff and, as one poster put it “make fun of stuff they see in stores,” which is worse than loitering. You are telling me it is condescending to point out that this is not the most charitable way to treat the merchants doing business at that mall? Why? Why is it condescending to say that parents should consider merchants human beings that deserve consideration, particularly with regards to their livelihoods?
On top of that, did you know that 55 percent of adult shoplifters say they started shoplifting in their teens? Did you know that one survey found that 89 percent of kids say they know other kids who shoplift, and that 66 percent say they hang out with those kids? Researchers also contend that “Shoplifting is often not a premeditated crime. 73 percent of adult and 72 percent of juvenile shoplifters don’t plan to steal in advance…Shoplifters say they are caught an average of only once in every 48 times they steal. They are turned over to the police 50 percent of the time…The vast majority of shoplifters are “non-professionals” who steal,
not out of criminal intent, financial need or greed but as a response to social and personal pressures in their life. The excitement generated from “getting away with it” produces a chemical reaction resulting in what shoplifters describe as an incredible “rush” or “high” feeling. Many shoplifters will tell you that this high is their “true reward,” rather than the merchandise itself. Drug addicts, who have become addicted to shoplifting, describe shoplifting as equally addicting as drugs. 57 percent of adults and 33 percent of juveniles say it is hard for them to stop shoplifting even after getting caught…”
(Source:
shopliftingprevention.org/whatnaspoffers/nrc/publiceducstats.htm)
We are talking about merchandise walking out of stores at the rate of
$35 million per day. When it comes to other addictive activities that are started not because of need, but because of peer pressure, activities that can ruin a child’s future, I think parents are pretty careful. Are they as careful when it comes to what pressures their teen may be facing by hanging out in groups that have with no purpose or excitement at a mall?
Again, I’m not saying that kids who go to malls are bad kids, let alone that they’re all out shoplifting, although the statistics say that more are out there stealing for thrills than their parents could possibly suspect. More to the point, though, if your kid doesn’t like athletics, then they’re going to see a gym membership as a penance, not a privilege…I get that! I’m saying that our gym membership costs about the same as our kids going to one movie with popcorn each weekend, if not a little less. If you’re spending less than that at the mall each month, you kind of have to wonder if you’re not taking advantage of the good graces of the people running the mall. They aren’t running a free after-school program for teens. Teens who have positive activities to fill their time also run less of a risk of getting into drugs, promiscuity, and other problems.
So while going to a mall is just a perfectly fine thing to do with your friends when there is a reason or when it is not a frequent habit, I would be very concerned if it were truly a major part of my teen’s social life, rather than something they sometimes did on weekends.
(Or so my friends tell me, anyway. I’m not good at enjoying people’s company. 
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