It’s 3:00 p.m.  Do you know where your teenagers are?

Since when is stealing from neighborhood stores an acceptable after-school activity?  Parents, these are the same suburban stores you shop in.  These are the stores your neighbors shop in.  Do you have sufficient insight into the activities your kids are engaged in after swiping your American Express card for their daily burger and fries lunch accompanied by a black-and-white shake?

Since when is “stealing for kicks” an acceptable after-school activity? We’re not talking about low budget items like candy or cookies but stealing off store shelves just for the sake of stealing.  Well-to-do kids from local families seem to know they can get away with it.  They show no fear and they show no remorse.

Their strategy?  They show up en masse surrounding the store aisles.  They sit cross-legged on the floor in the back of the aisles and refuse to budge.  They trash talk mentally disabled store employees.  Some teens anyway. Certainly, not yours.

Clean-cut kids, with chiseled grins and boyish smiles are stealing.  The pretty girls, too.  Parents, please open your eyes and open a dialogue with your teens. Otherwise, the next wake-up call you receive may be from a police officer after they’ve handcuffed your son or daughter. Yes, the girls are guilty of this behavior, too, according to local merchants.

And if you still aren’t inclined to act, consider how you will explain a police record or community service on an elite college application. Some things in life can’t be fixed even with excellent SAT scores.

Judy Shore Rosenthal

Great Neck