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Master thief at the age of 3?

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Reply 20

StephenP91

He should be stopped now! Report him to the police.

Reply 21

My Life

Original post by MagnificentFuhrer

Yes but that's just what children do, not plan thefts. Planning shows advancement IMHO.

Lol I know.

Reply 22

Shuvel

Original post by GodspeedGehenna

Children at the age of 3-4 are basically going through a conceptual shift in which they develop a theory of mind. This is the age they start being able to pass very simple perspective taking tests. The theft that you described demands quite an advanced level of theory of mind that a child at the age of four would be very unlikely to posess.

You just saved me a lot of rambling and trying to remember the developmental psychology module, cheers haha!

What he said.

Reply 23

PinkMobilePhone

Volunteer Team

Lets see....

I have a 5 year old
I have a 3 year old

no way would by 3 year old be capable of this type of deception. I mean, he might take a toy (though he's not that way inclined, he doesn't steal) but he wouldn't drop it and pretend he just found it. It simply wouldn't occur to him. No, instead he'd just say "Lydia did it!" (blaming it on his sister, because he ALWAYS says "Lydia did it" for everything he knows he shouldn't have done). That's a fairly standard answer though.

my 5 year old, possibly would have the capabilities to do this, but I don't think that even she would have been able to at the age of 3, and she is a very intelligent child (she's skipping up a year in school because she's too advanced for the class she's currently in).

So....I think your friend maybe THINKS he did a fantastically cunning series of thefts when he was 3, but I think perhaps he's recalling his life with rose-tinted spectacles. I expect most adults would have been able to see through his deception with relative ease.

Perhaps other children weren't quite as perceptive though. Maybe he did manage to steal things from other kids and they didn't notice. Kids aren't very observant.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 24

Sir Jonathan

Original post by GodspeedGehenna

I believe the site rules dictate that we should use proper english. Speak English!!!! before I neg yo ass. :rofl:

Reply 25

Lizia

I think it's completely possible that he carried out the actions he described. It's just not very likely that the adults didn't see through it. I used to do it all the time with my brother's toys, but my mum points out that she always knew I was lying. So I had the thought processes involved- "This isn't mine, but I'll take it anyway. Oh no, I'll get in trouble so I'll pretend I didn't take it"- but I wasn't sneaky enough to make it convincing.