Anonymous wrote:I agree with you, OP. It always bothers me when things go missing and never turn up at the lost and found. For the most part, my kids have been around affluent kids and communities. And, my kids only care about their stuff. It is hard to believe these kids would steal and the parents would not know that John's coat that he brought home is not one that you purchased. I would send it back to school immediately. My son came home one day with $5 that he said another kids gave him for being his friend. I am glad he admitted it to me. I put the $5 in an envelope with the kid's name on it and told my DS to give it back to him first thing next morning. On the few occasions that DS came home with something that wasn't his that he said another kids gave him or he traded something of his, I told him to give it back. Most of the time he is only concerned about his things. So, yes, it has really bothered me the few times DS' things went missing. Because I ultimately blame the parents who are either complicit in not ensuring their child return what is not theirs or they actively participating or condone stealing, which is sad.

So your kid somehow just got $5 from a kid for being his friend. The kid gave it to your son out of the goodness of his heart? Your kid did absolutely nothing wrong in procuring this money? Gottcha.

And your solution is to tell your kid to give it back, while simultaneously complaining about other parents who don't ensure kids return property that isn't theirs?

Words fail me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never had a coat stolen but we did once have a brand new beach towel taken at the pool. It was laying on a lounge chair with the rest of my kid's stuff - shirt, pool bag, etc. So it wasn't like it was picked up by accident, it was obvious that it belonged to someone. Never did show up in the lost and found.

Yes. Annoying isn't it. In our case some boy/man took my dd's pink waterbottle from the lounge chair and drank from it (drank from full to a quarter) and then left it in the men's shower room. We wouldn't have found it if not for my husband when he was changing out in the male washroom!!

No shame and no consideration. It even had a girls name tagged on the cap. Creepy or disgusting either way how people are brought up!

That man - WTH?! I hope your kids steer clear of the weirdo!

Yeah. I wished we could have seen who it was! We just hope it wasn't a man but just a ill mannered boy. But we did boil and sterilize the whole bottle because the cap/nozzle was still wet from him drinking it! (Unsure if it's saliva) Just to be sure and safe....

Anonymous wrote:I have never found anything brand name in the lost and found. The teachers always say expensive stuff in there, but when I look it is all very worn or ugly and just waiting for the donation truck. Never found my DDs new NF jacket x2.

Actually noooo.... Not in our school. There's really lots of nice stuff there. Including North face, tna, a&f etc.... All neglected.... No one ever claims them. So many have telephone numbers that the school called but no one ever bothers to even pick it up. I have helped in the volunteering once and we threw out so many good good lunch boxes and expensive steel water bottles. So many of them! and you wonder why parents don't feel the pinch. Coats we send to the shelter so at least someone else could enjoy them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never had a coat stolen but we did once have a brand new beach towel taken at the pool. It was laying on a lounge chair with the rest of my kid's stuff - shirt, pool bag, etc. So it wasn't like it was picked up by accident, it was obvious that it belonged to someone. Never did show up in the lost and found.

Yes. Annoying isn't it. In our case some boy/man took my dd's pink waterbottle from the lounge chair and drank from it (drank from full to a quarter) and then left it in the men's shower room. We wouldn't have found it if not for my husband when he was changing out in the male washroom!!

No shame and no consideration. It even had a girls name tagged on the cap. Creepy or disgusting either way how people are brought up!

That man - WTH?! I hope your kids steer clear of the weirdo!

Anonymous wrote:We've never had a coat stolen but we did once have a brand new beach towel taken at the pool. It was laying on a lounge chair with the rest of my kid's stuff - shirt, pool bag, etc. So it wasn't like it was picked up by accident, it was obvious that it belonged to someone. Never did show up in the lost and found.

Yes. Annoying isn't it. In our case some boy/man took my dd's pink waterbottle from the lounge chair and drank from it (drank from full to a quarter) and then left it in the men's shower room. We wouldn't have found it if not for my husband when he was changing out in the male washroom!!

No shame and no consideration. It even had a girls name tagged on the cap. Creepy or disgusting either way how people are brought up!

I have never found anything brand name in the lost and found. The teachers always say expensive stuff in there, but when I look it is all very worn or ugly and just waiting for the donation truck. Never found my DDs new NF jacket x2.

We've never had a coat stolen but we did once have a brand new beach towel taken at the pool. It was laying on a lounge chair with the rest of my kid's stuff - shirt, pool bag, etc. So it wasn't like it was picked up by accident, it was obvious that it belonged to someone. Never did show up in the lost and found.

Anonymous wrote:OP, did your daughter go up to her teacher right away to report it missing? Is she in a homeroom where all children leave at the same time, under direction from the teacher? Seems like that would have been the time for the teacher to help sort things out about the missing coat.

Anonymous wrote:OP, did your daughter go up to her teacher right away to report it missing? Is she in a homeroom where all children leave at the same time, under direction from the teacher? Seems like that would have been the time for the teacher to help sort things out about the missing coat.

Yes. She told her teacher but the teacher suggested maybe she left it at the Playground even though she apparentlysaid no! Her teacher was supposedly busy and went off with another parent and never came back. Again all these happened when I was not present. She definitely saw it after playground because she claimed she said put her recorder into the the coat side pocket. (she likes playing the recorder while walking home from school) even it was taken by mistake, I am sure the kid who is took it would realise a long recorder sticking out for the inner pocket?)


I checked the lost and found again..... Tons of other stuff but no coat! Spoke to another parent and can't believe what I heard. She suggested just grabbing another coat and recorder from the lost and found from the bottom. Likely it has been forgotten. Boy, did I not give her a gentle lecture. I dont Want someone else's coat. Just our own old grubby coat!!

Anonymous wrote:I think this probably happens a lot: kid leaves coat somewhere and doesn't even miss it right away. It's found and, at most, other kids nearby are asked if it's theirs. There may be some ambivalence about who takes it but it doesn't cross their minds to consider that there is an original owner.

Yes, this happens a lot. I have a child that used to leave sweatshirts around all the time--gets hot playing on the playground, throws sweatshirt down, then forgets about it. I'd ask the school if I could check out the lost and found, and when his sweatshirt wasn't there, was told I could "just take another one."

OP, did your daughter go up to her teacher right away to report it missing? Is she in a homeroom where all children leave at the same time, under direction from the teacher? Seems like that would have been the time for the teacher to help sort things out about the missing coat.

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend whose daughter (7) has had two coats stolen so far this winter. The kid kept her coat folded up in her backpack after the first one went missing. Not hanging on the coat rack..yes, sure, kids can take the wrong coat by accident but who goes into another classmate's backpack by 'accident' kwim.

They went into her backpack? That's really bad. I hope that she let the teacher know about that.

My dd left her coat (a nice 1 month old north face) at The playground couple of weeks back. When we went back an hour later, some darn kid peed on her coat! Another kid saw two teenage boys do it but they have ran away right after. That's also kinda like robbing my dd a nice coat this winter.

I have a friend whose daughter (7) has had two coats stolen so far this winter. The kid kept her coat folded up in her backpack after the first one went missing. Not hanging on the coat rack..yes, sure, kids can take the wrong coat by accident but who goes into another classmate's backpack by 'accident' kwim.

Anonymous wrote:Just ranting. A little annoyed that someone took my dd's coat from the coat rack and left her with no coat and she had to shiver home! Why would someone take a grubby hand me down old coat?!! But I was not prepared to buy a new one just right now.

I'm sure a kid just took the wrong coat by accident. This has happened to us, both as the inadvertent taker and the takee.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is sad that so many people assume the coat was stolen. I agree that is possible, but it would never be my first, second or fifth assumption with a kids jacket gone missing at school. Much more likely that another kid took it home accidentally, your kid left it somewhere, it fell off the hanger onto the floor and got moved to lost and found, etc. I could also easily see how it would take awhile for the mistake to be uncovered. I am the only person in my house who would notice if a similar but different coat came home with one of my kids - neither the kids nor their dad would notice!

OP, did your DC say there was ANOTHER coat left in the closet that looked similar to the one taken? If there was no other coat left, PP, think it is safe to assume the coat was stolen.

No. A kid may have not worn a coat to school that day and unthinkingly took a coat that looked like his own. Or a kid from an entirely different class could have grabbed the wrong coat off the playground in a rush and that kid's coat wound up in lost and found.

PP, that is a lot of "what ifs."