Parental Advice- Re: Xbox 360
 

Alright, my 11 year old son said a friend of his "gave" him his copy of Black Ops 2, because he thought he had lost it... got another copy and gave this other copy to my son.

I don't want my kids playing these violent video games, as it is, so I wouldn't buy this game for him.

Well, my son's friend's mom just called me and told me that they couldn't find the game anywhere... and they last remember playing it when my son was there.

My son then changed his story when confronted, saying that he was "borrowing" it and that his friend said that he could.

This is the third instance of him grabbing something that doesn't belong to him. He used my stored credit card in the XBOX to buy a bunch of credits to download games about 7-8 months ago. He took a gold peace sign necklace from my mom about 4 months ago. And now this.

So, should I sell the XBOX 360 or not? My instinct says yes. What say you?

TL;DR my son stole something for the 3rd time in the past 8 months, should I sell the XBOX?

Be it noted that I don't have kids.

But I would take it away. Just make sure he goddamn sure knows why. Make sure you tie all the events to it.

I don't have kids either, but I say take it away. 11 is too young for all that stuff. 14 is a good age to start all that.

He's deleting all of his progress files from the XBOX right now, as we speak.

I won't let my son play Black Ops either, but I do let him play some violent games. he knows the difference between game world and real world. I would definitely take it away for some time as punishment for sure as well as a few other things but that's just me.

I'll add my voice to the list of those saying "I don't have kids, but I would take it away". Not sell, though. Ground. And make sure he understands why. There have to be consequences or he'll just keep doing what he's doing.

I would however also say 'listen to your instincts' in most situations. They're usually right.

Don't sell it. Take it away for a while.
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Sit him down and explain the negatives of theft, and how someday it will effect him and the things he owns.

Where is the Xbox located in the house?

I have a son the same age. He tried lying a year or two ago and got caught in it and we took all electronics away for one week for each time he told the lie to us before he finally gave in and told the truth, came up to be 6 weeks. That was no Wii, TV, computer, DS, anything, all he could do was read and do homework. He got the message and doesn't lie anymore...that or he has gotten to be damn good at it.

If it was at the point of what you are mentioning now, the xbox would disappear and I wouldn't even give him the closure of knowing what happened to it, it would just be gone, and in it's place I might leave a note that says next time you are caught lying or taking something that isn't yours it will be worse.

Taking away the 360 is a good start, but it sounds like you need to reevaluate how your parenting has led to stealing being acceptable (e.g., weak punishment for the necklace heist).

Or, if you're anything like my BIL, you should get off your GD computer and spend more time with your son. ;)

This is what I voted for also.

Take your son out into your backyard. Show him where you have placed the xbox. Remove the baseball bat from behind your back. Smash xbox repeatedly.

Repeat 3X for effect.

Look your son in the eyes, then smile as you light it on fire.

The main reason I say sell it is to buy a PS3 instead, but I would definitely take it away for quite a while.

We have it in the game room.... most of the time it is in the living room though.

My kids have no TV's in their rooms. Nor computers.