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Sons friends stealing mini figs

WickedsymphonyWickedsymphony Member Posts: 8
in Everything else LEGO
Do you guys worry about your children's friends stealing their mini- figs?
When my son has friends over (10yr olds) I get paranoid that someone's going to pocket a mini fig. I try to keep them organized, but they end up all over the city, and I can't exactly keep track of every single one like I would like to do. Has any one had this happen, any advice. I really want to ask them to empty their pockets, but that would be rude. Guess I will have to be paranoid...

Comments

  • BuriedinBricksBuriedinBricks USAMember Posts: 1,367
    edited February 2014
    It's not crazy, but I don't know if there's really anything you can do about it...other than to lock up the more valuable minifigs before his pals come over. Shaking them down after a play session would probably be frowned upon.
    andhe
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,423
    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.
  • Bluefairy_56Bluefairy_56 Member Posts: 320
    I used to have the same problem with my sons friend, he was always stealing matchbox cars. I ended up frisking his pockets before he left the last time (this was back in the 80's) I never had him back in the house again.

    My son had a huge collection of matchbox cars, he ended up loosing about 5 of them, before we found out who was stealing them.

    Such a shame.
  • BuriedinBricksBuriedinBricks USAMember Posts: 1,367
    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Ha, I was going to actually use that as an example. I'm 99% positive one of my daughter's friends made off with one of her ponies from a blind bag. The girl would not put it down the whole time she was over and we could not find it a few days later. Not even sure how to approach the situation though as it's not worth possibly offending her mother over something that's worth a few bucks.
    FollowsClosely
  • SirBenSirBen In the Hall of the Mountain KingMember Posts: 579
    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Is that before or after you sniff them?
    GothamConstructionCoandheStormKittyJeffHpharmjod
  • plasmodiumplasmodium UKMember Posts: 1,941
    Yeah, it's always awkward when you suspect someone else's kids of stealing things. My little brother once discovered a whole bunch of stuff missing after my little cousins were over one day. You have no idea how awkward it was trying to tell my uncle we thought his kids had nicked some Lego, but we did and he found the pieces. He made our cousin come round and confess and give the pieces back personally, to learn the lesson. There were tears, he said sorry, it was awkward all round, we forgave him and it was all made up.
    He counted without my brother being the human embodiment of Smaug...he know exactly what pieces he has, and can sense when any are missing...
    SapmiSatanMommaLa
  • SirKevbagsSirKevbags Fairy Land Member Posts: 4,030
    Our SW figs were always marked up on their feet back in the day. I don't recall theft being an issue but when we played together in groups it was just easier to sort them out at the end of play. No arguments over Storm Troopers.
  • cheshirecatcheshirecat Member Posts: 5,332
    ^ At first I thought you meant SW minifigs and was trying to work out how old you must have been sat with your 'friends' playing with SW lego minifigs. Then I realised you just meant SW figs. Phew - it wasn't a pretty mental picture!
    StormKittySirKevbags
  • yuffieyuffie Member Posts: 91
    sounds like a deleted scene from the lego movie
  • alexwilalexwil UKMember Posts: 374
    We had some friends over last year with their kids, they started playing hide and seek with our daughter. They asked if they could hide in the man cave (lego room!) and I said yes thinking it would all be okay.

    A couple of days later I realized some of my cmf figures were gone, my wife insisted I didn't bring it up with them as she didn't want to cause tension. Needless to say if they come over again they will not be going near the man cave!
  • BooTheMightyHamsterBooTheMightyHamster Northern edge of London, just before the dragons...Member Posts: 1,368
    Interesting that several people 'don't like to make a fuss', and therefore say nothing.

    If you were to substitute 'cash' for 'minifigs / lego pieces' I wonder if their views would change?
    Drmnez
  • BuriedinBricksBuriedinBricks USAMember Posts: 1,367
    It's hard to accuse someone of theft without hard evidence, especially kids who may not fully comprehend what they did was wrong. It's not like I have CCTV cameras all over the house....yet.
  • CCCCCC UKMember Posts: 19,302
    I make sure our kids put away their better sets and minifigs ("in case they get broken") and then have a couple of buckets of mixed bricks and fairly cheap minifigs when friends come to play. If there has been a newspaper offer in the not too distant past, they may each get a poly to build and then take home anyway.
  • theskirridtheskirrid Member Posts: 12
    I still remember Adrian Wray stealing my Supercar Top Trumps when I was 7, if it was LEGO I might be even more traumatised.
    A nice big box of parts with a load of cops and robbers [do LEGO even make any other figures this wave?] as CCC suggests doesn't imply you don't trust them, and keeps harder to replace stuff safe.
  • twoninerkentwoninerken Member Posts: 48
    We had one of my sons friends over a little over a year ago and we had a cmf that I had bought the day before and one of my sons Ninjago Minis disappear. We noticed within minutes of the boy leaving. My wife called the boys mom to ask if he had "mistakenly" left with the figures (maybe forgot they were in his pocket etc.). The mom simply said her boy would not do that and did not check. The boy has not been back to play at our house since. I have since put together a box of lego that is for friends to play with seperate of the kids or my nicer sets.
  • akunthitaakunthita USAMember Posts: 1,037
    I don't have kids, but I have kids over all the time. And yes, pocketing minifigs can be a problem. My solution is to have some cheaper figs avalable for them that are still really cool in themes that are especially popular; army men and knights for the boys and Friends minidolls for the girls. Haven't had a problem since then.

    For kids who come over regularly I let them have their "own minifigs" at our house (they can't take them home, but whenever they come over they are there for them). The side-effect of this is that they watch out for those minifigs and protect them (especially if they customized them themselves). I actually haven't had any issues with the cheaper minifigs missing either since implementing this system... (c:
    murphquake
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,423
    SirBen said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Is that before or after you sniff them?
    rancorbait said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Gee I wonder who would steal them?

    Pitfall: *sneaks into daughter's room and reaches for pony*

    Daughter: *comes in* "What are you doing?!"

    Pitfall: "mustn't ask us, not it's business!"

    Daughter: "Give me that!" *Grabs pony*

    Pitfall: "Arrgggghh!!" "Give us the precious!" *Tries to take it back*

    Daughter: "Why?"

    Pitfall: "Because it's my birthday, and I wants to sniff it"
    Ha. If I have to resort to sneaking into my daughters room to sniff her Ponies, then I really need to get some professional help :)

  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,423
    Confronting someone else kid is a hard one, even if you have proof. Most parents believe their children are angels and can do no wrong. If it is just a Lego piece here and there, I guess it isn't a big deal.

    Obviously, you can't mark all your childrens Lego pieces, so the best thing to do is maybe teach your children to be more careful with their possessions. I grew up in a military family and every T was crossed and every I was dotted. I would initial all my Albums and tapes and CD's and my toys were always sorted after they were played with. If anything was missing, my friends and I would figure out what happened right then and there.
  • murphquakemurphquake Member Posts: 651
    @akunthita that's a great strategy
  • margotmargot Member Posts: 2,310
    Pitfall69 said:

    Most parents believe their children are angels and can do no wrong.

    Is this really true? I certainly don't think that way about my son. People who think their kids are angels must be totally naive.

    dougtsPitfall69DrmnezLegoboyMommaLaFollowsCloselyZathras
  • HokieJoe99HokieJoe99 Member Posts: 351
    I experienced this fear just last night. I looked and noticed that Doc Brown was in a different position. Then I realized that I couldn't find Marty McFly. I asked my wife for a list of people who entered the LEGO room that day which did not go over well.

    Turns out, Marty decided to get some ice cream from the back of the ice cream machine and I couldn't see him because it is so tall.
  • AanchirAanchir United StatesMember Posts: 2,892
    I don't know how big an issue this is with older kids. When I was a kid (let's say 8–14 years old) and collecting things like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I never had a problem with my peers not understanding the concept of ownership. I kept a close eye on these things, and my friends (even the neighborhood friends who I didn't know so well) never betrayed my trust. I ran into more issues with my younger brother than anyone else — he tended to waffle on whether we shared our cards or owned them individually, and that could cause problems.

    With five–, six–, or seven-year-old kids, you might want to be more cautious. But of course, there's only so much you as a parent can do. The important thing should be teaching your son the value of his belongings and the idea that they can't just be replaced on a whim if lost or stolen, and teaching him to be careful with them even in the company of his friends. But of course, if he's ten years old I'm sure he already understands these concepts pretty well.
  • TechnicNickTechnicNick Berkshire, UKMember Posts: 277
    A view from the wrong side of the fence - when my son was little (7 or 8 maybe) he went to a friend's house after school and returned with a toy that wasn't his. I called his friend's mother to ask if her son was missing this item; he was. My boy (a good lad really...) knew it was wrong but did it anyway. The toy was returned immediately with a humble apology and the two boys remained friends. If parents take off their blinkers and deal with this stuff swiftly, it won't get worse later on.
    aimlesspursuitsmargotlego007MommaLapharmjod
  • OldfanOldfan Chicagoland, IL, USAMember Posts: 658
    margot said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    Most parents believe their children are angels and can do no wrong.

    Is this really true? I certainly don't think that way about my son. People who think their kids are angels must be totally naive.

    Many of my and my wife's relatives are teachers (we're in the USA). They all have many, many stories about how a child performs at school, and when they conference with the parents about the child's behavior, the parents just refuse to believe that their child could POSSIBLY act in the way described. "No way my little angel (or whatever cherubic description applies) could have done that, you're lying to me!".

    I guess I was raised by more realistic people: my parents rarely automatically took my side unless and until I was able to explain my way out of it. And now that I'm a father, I fully expect to deal with my "precious little one" as she starts acting out at school/with friends/in sports/etc. Hopefully not very often, but I'll be shocked if she NEVER steps out of line during her childhood. It's not that we aren't involved parents or don't try to teach her right from wrong, etc.; it's just that she's a kid and she'll have to experience growing up just like everyone else. (Note: she's 2 1/2 and has already been caught lying at school; our parental honeymoon is over, I guess!)

    The only thing I can think of to explain a parent's naivete, is that some people are so enraptured (or overwhelmed) by parenthood that they forget all about how they themselves behaved as children. I have no such memory lapses, so I'm fully prepared for when my kid starts doing the same things I did. If someone talked to me about my child possibly taking something that doesn't belong to her, we'll have a conversation before I conclude that "she couldn't possibly have done it."
    aimlesspursuitsPitfall691265tedward
  • rancorbaitrancorbait Manitoba CanadaMember Posts: 1,850
    Pitfall69 said:

    SirBen said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Is that before or after you sniff them?
    rancorbait said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Gee I wonder who would steal them?

    Pitfall: *sneaks into daughter's room and reaches for pony*

    Daughter: *comes in* "What are you doing?!"

    Pitfall: "mustn't ask us, not it's business!"

    Daughter: "Give me that!" *Grabs pony*

    Pitfall: "Arrgggghh!!" "Give us the precious!" *Tries to take it back*

    Daughter: "Why?"

    Pitfall: "Because it's my birthday, and I wants to sniff it"
    Ha. If I have to resort to sneaking into my daughters room to sniff her Ponies, then I really need to get some professional help :)

    ;o)
    Pitfall69
  • CCCCCC UKMember Posts: 19,302
    Oldfan said:

    (Note: she's 2 1/2 and has already been caught lying at school; our parental honeymoon is over, I guess!)

    It's not that surprising. It seems to kick in automatically at about two years old. It is part of pushing boundaries and seeing what they can get away with. Even if they are obviously lying, they still try to get away with it.
    Drmnez
  • GIR3691GIR3691 Member Posts: 668
    I have people over all the time and we sometimes will hang out in the LEGO room. I keep having to deal with stuff getting picked up and dropped, or minifigs being placed in inappropriate poses, but so far no one has stolen anything. Or if they have, it's insignificant enough that I wouldn't care.
  • starfire2starfire2 Phoenix AZMember Posts: 1,329
    Wickedsymphony said:

    Do you guys worry about your children's friends stealing their mini- figs?
    When my son has friends over (10yr olds) I get paranoid that someone's going to pocket a mini fig. I try to keep them organized, but they end up all over the city, and I can't exactly keep track of every single one like I would like to do. Has any one had this happen, any advice. I really want to ask them to empty their pockets, but that would be rude. Guess I will have to be paranoid...

    A few years ago my sons friends (2 boys on 2 different occasions) stole minifigures from my son's room while they were playing. Luckily we got them back. I no longer allow kids over and if he goes to someone's home he is not allowed to take Lego.
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,423
    edited February 2014
    margot said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    Most parents believe their children are angels and can do no wrong.

    Is this really true? I certainly don't think that way about my son. People who think their kids are angels must be totally naive.

    I liked @Oldfan‌ s example. A lot of my clients are retired teachers and the horror stories they tell me about parent/teacher conferences were crazy.

    I think as parents we know our children aren't angels, but it changes when we are confronted by another parent or teacher saying that our child did this or that. We become defensive. I think it is human nature.

  • klatu003klatu003 Hobbiton, Shire, Middle EarthMember Posts: 723
    This issue has added to my reluctance to get a cleaning person. Cleaning is getting to be too much for my husband and me to perform properly. Bad back and all that aging stuff. When I had a cleaning lady many years ago, everything was fine until she had a sub for a couple of weeks. The unlikeliest items went missing. I didn't say anything -- life is too short, the stuff was just stuff, and she wasn't coming back.

    I'm concerned that cleaning people might think their children/grandchildren might like some of my "toys" and since there is so much I would never miss a few minifigs. If some city people went missing it wouldn't kill me, but if my precious LOTR minifigs disappeared I'd be very sad. I've thought of telling anyone up front how everything is itemized and cataloged (true) even though it looks disorganized, and offering occasional polybag/small set to keep temptation down. The trick is to do it without signalling to the nice cleaning person "I think you are a potential thief." People are people and some are 100% honest (and I don't want to offend them) and some aren't (and I want to warn them off.) Has anyone dealt with this?
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,423
    ^This is the honest truth. Every single one of my clients have had cleaning people steal things from their home. All of my clients are wealthy and what they have taken are not cheap things. Checks out if the checkbook, family heirlooms that you can never replace, expensive coats and purses. Terrible. It is a wonder why there is so little trust in this world.
  • VaderXVaderX Member Posts: 220
    My mind tends to wonder if the theft really only comes from underpaid employees. Yes cleaning people are your employee(s). If you pay them 10$ an hour don't expect them to not be tempted to steal your 5,000$ ring that's just tossed in the box of stuff in your dirty bathroom. I'm not implying that all low wage workers are thieves, but this is the kind of stuff that I ponder as I look from both sides of the fence.

    I remember in my childhood I had many friends with Lego collections that were far larger than mine. The thought had crossed my mind to 'take' a few bricks that had caught my eye. What stopped me? My Dad and his belt. It only ever happened once but honestly that was all it took for me to never again act out or be dishonest. Do kids even get spanked anymore?

  • FenrisAkashiFenrisAkashi Member Posts: 242
    ^Theft comes from being dishonest with your employer or another person. Nothing more or nothing less.
    Wages don't enter the issue. Its not as if they are stealing food to stay alive.
    dougts
  • prof1515prof1515 EarthMember Posts: 1,561
    While some people do steal to survive at first, they continue doing so because they view it as an easy way to prosper. For others, they never even have the need at the start, merely the lack of empathy, ethics and moral character that justifies in their mind anything which gets them what they want regardless of circumstances or repercussion for others. Some of the biggest thieves in history have been and presently are the wealthiest people in society. Their willingness to steal as well as lie, cheat and kill (or engage in acts which lead to the death of others) are the reason that they are wealthy (or as they'd call it "successful"). We call these people sociopaths and it's not surprising that those in occupations like CEOs, bankers and other big business types have the highest percentage of sociopaths found within society.

    As for this kid stealing your son's Lego, keep an eye on him or set up a camera to watch the kids while they play. When you have evidence of it, present it to his parents but don't be surprised if the kid isn't punished all that severely. Good parenting is hard to find and kids are often just a reflection of their parents. If the kid's dishonest, chances are they learned that behavior as a result of their parents' failure at parenting.
  • madforLEGOmadforLEGO Chicagoland USMember Posts: 9,932
    Just need to lo-jack your figures. The first company that starts this business and can make chips small enough to fit IN a figure will make a fortune. See a parent try to explain that one when their 'perfect little angel' gets caught red handed.
    tedward
  • samiam391samiam391 A log cabin in PA, United StatesMember Posts: 4,350
    edited February 2014
    SirKevbags said:

    Our SW figs were always marked up on their feet back in the day.

    How can one do so much good through charity, and then do such an unspeakable deed. I'm horrified.
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,423
    Are you sure @samiam391 isn't stealing your sons minifigures?

    :)
    sidersdd
  • markarm919markarm919 USAMember Posts: 60
    madforLEGO said:

    Just need to lo-jack your figures. The first company that starts this business and can make chips small enough to fit IN a figure will make a fortune. See a parent try to explain that one when their 'perfect little angel' gets caught red handed.

    http://thefutureofthings.com/3221-hitachi-develops-worlds-smallest-rfid-chip/

  • LegoboyLegoboy 100km furtherMember Posts: 8,804
    Pitfall69 said:

    SirBen said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Is that before or after you sniff them?
    rancorbait said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    I have the same problem with my daughters My Little Ponies. I just put an "A" on the bottom of the hooves.

    Gee I wonder who would steal them?

    Pitfall: *sneaks into daughter's room and reaches for pony*

    Daughter: *comes in* "What are you doing?!"

    Pitfall: "mustn't ask us, not it's business!"

    Daughter: "Give me that!" *Grabs pony*

    Pitfall: "Arrgggghh!!" "Give us the precious!" *Tries to take it back*

    Daughter: "Why?"

    Pitfall: "Because it's my birthday, and I wants to sniff it"
    Ha. If I have to resort to sneaking into my daughters room to sniff her Ponies, then I really need to get some professional help :)

    No, you just need to get some of your own.

    Pitfall69
  • MommaLaMommaLa Member Posts: 21
    Lessons learnt from my first, what I have is 2 bins for my youngest and kids my friends foist on me, run of the mill city figs, 8-10 pounds of blocks and a 2nd of duplo which I found the 7 yr old group still will play with. I pull that out, dd knows that everything else stays put.

    My elder child is in college and he's avaricious about his things. He's had lego pieces stolen in the past when he was younger, he's only 17 so not so long ago, but at the time he just let it go, guess we know why he's so covetous now.

    I don't encourage guest however, I have museum and zoo membership and I'd rather do a couple hours either place or ice skating etc, than have little people in my home, I don't mind the teens as much as the 7 yr old crowd.
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,423
    I don't like guests either. That means I have to clean the house :)
    pharmjodOldfan
  • KiwiLegoMeisterKiwiLegoMeister New ZealandMember Posts: 212
    I might try a different approach. If I can just get my son to go round to his friends' places, we could amass hundreds of mini-figs!

    [oh, and before anyone thinks I'm serious (there's always someone who takes everything literally), I'm kidding].
    FollowsCloselyPitfall69margotdougts
  • Bluefairy_56Bluefairy_56 Member Posts: 320
    KiwiLegoMeister said:

    I might try a different approach. If I can just get my son to go round to his friends' places, we could amass hundreds of mini-figs!

    [oh, and before anyone thinks I'm serious (there's always someone who takes everything literally), I'm kidding].

    One way of getting bonus ones lol...

    But I do agree about getting your kids to go to their friends places, saves having to tidy up the mess the kids leave or to put back all the things the kids have rearranged. Now that is a PITA.
  • Indy24LAIndy24LA Member Posts: 6
    margot said:

    Pitfall69 said:

    Most parents believe their children are angels and can do no wrong.

    Is this really true? I certainly don't think that way about my son. People who think their kids are angels must be totally naive.

    Honestly I think those parents are just lazy. If your kid does something wrong (like stealing, which is common with younger kids) you actually have to parent. A lot of people just don't want to deal with their own kid so they deny everything.
  • AFFOL_Shellz_BellzAFFOL_Shellz_Bellz Member Posts: 1,263
    klatu003 said:

    This issue has added to my reluctance to get a cleaning person. Cleaning is getting to be too much for my husband and me to perform properly. Bad back and all that aging stuff. When I had a cleaning lady many years ago, everything was fine until she had a sub for a couple of weeks. The unlikeliest items went missing. I didn't say anything -- life is too short, the stuff was just stuff, and she wasn't coming back.

    I'm concerned that cleaning people might think their children/grandchildren might like some of my "toys" and since there is so much I would never miss a few minifigs. If some city people went missing it wouldn't kill me, but if my precious LOTR minifigs disappeared I'd be very sad. I've thought of telling anyone up front how everything is itemized and cataloged (true) even though it looks disorganized, and offering occasional polybag/small set to keep temptation down. The trick is to do it without signalling to the nice cleaning person "I think you are a potential thief." People are people and some are 100% honest (and I don't want to offend them) and some aren't (and I want to warn them off.) Has anyone dealt with this?

    We have a team of two ladies who clean for us. We hire only those who are licensed and bonded. Maybe we just lucked out and got two very honest people but we've never had anything go missing. It may also have to do with the fact that we are home when they come to clean. We don't feel the need to be, but also don't feel the need to leave so they can clean either.

    We seldom have children visit but when they do we always have an extra poly bag or something they get to take home with them.
    klatu003
  • cody6268cody6268 Member Posts: 291
    I say get some of those stickers that you find inside DVDs, and those things that go off if someone tries to take something out without paying for it.
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 507
    I had the same though some some time back! The rare and nice figures are safely stored on a shelf in dad's office :-)
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