I occasionally took loose change from my mom's jacket pockets, and once or twice slipped a $20 from her wallet. I did not grow up to be a klepto.

never, and i wouldn't tolerate it

I used to steal dollar bills and quarters from my parents' wallets a couple of times a week because I wanted change for the school vending machines to buy junk food and they would have said no if I'd asked. They had to have noticed, but they never said anything to me. I never took more than $1 at a time but it probably added up.

I did this too - my dad kept a bunch of change on his dresser and I pretty much helped myself. He was really cheap - he would regularly drop us off at our cousin's house in the summer and didn't understand that we might want to go to Dairy Queen or to the pool and would need money if we didn't want to sit around watching TV all day. I didn't feel bad about it since I had nothing else to do - no camps, no vacations, etc. A trip to the overcrowded public pool was about as good as it got.

I definitely took money from places I knew my parents kept it, but I never thought of it as stealing until I saw this thread and started really thinking about it. I didn't take it for the thrill or anything like that, I took it for specific purposes that they would have approved of (or that I was mostly sure they would have). I was the oldest of three with a large age span and my two younger siblings were extremely needy. My parents were almost always at activities with them or otherwise engaged with them, so it seemed easier to just take care of myself rather than start a conversation about what I needed, which would stress them out and ruin the limited time we got together. I worked very hard to be independent and distance myself from my high-maintenance siblings. My parents acted as if they had a ton of money and there was never a shortage of cash lying around, which I guess contributed to my feeling like it wasn't a big deal. I hate to sound like I'm rationalizing it, because it would probably bother me if my DC did this, but I'd like to think I don't put them in that situation. I never shoplifted or took money from anyone else, and I do not have a personality disorder as an adult.

I used to steal quarters out of my dad's change jar. I probably tried to take dollars at one point, but I'm sure he put a stop to that quickly.

My younger sister stole an ATM card from my parents and W/D a few thousand dollars when she was in high school. She did it again a few years later and my parents pressed charges.

OP, do you have a lot more money than your niece's parents? Did she have an allowance when she was with you?

I used to steal things as a kid from friends and school, but never money. I grew up poor and never had the good toys/electronics like my friends. The most expensive thing I stole was a Gameboy from a classmate. I hid it in my pillow, playing it at night with no sound for a week before the stress of hiding such a 'high-value' item was too much. I returned it, but not to the person because I didn't want to get caught. I knew it was wrong, but the joy of having something that my parents could never afford to give me was overwhelming.

Another time, at a sleepover with a bunch of girls, I stole one of the host's Barbies. I'd always just had the generic dolls and she had so, so many that I justified that she'd never miss just one.

I never stole anything after age 10/11 and never had the urge. I really do think it was all just me being a selfish, dumb, poor kid.