Just as it's important for parents not to overreact, it is also important that parents don't underreact. When parents find out that their child is stealing, they should confront and deal with the stealing immediately. The longer stealing is allowed to continue uncorrected, the more difficult it is to correct later on. Parents should decide what the specific consequences are for stealing, and apply them every time stealing occurs. Parents should inform their children of these consequences before they are used.
Consistency is very important.
Correct the behavior. Correcting means making some kind of restitution. If the child has no money to pay for what he or she has taken, parents can loan the child the money and then subtract it from an allowance, or require that the child do chores around the house to earn the money to pay for it. It might also be a good idea for parents to require that the child apologize to the person from whom the item was stolen. Sometimes this is very difficult for children, so parents may not want force the issue if their child is unable to make an apology.