"I'll never do anything like that again," our teenage son said as he plopped himself down dejectedly on the couch beside me. His father had just brought him and his bicycle home from the store, where he and a friend had been caught shoplifting ski wax. Our son had never done anything like that before, and, true to his word, he never did anything like that again.

At the time I wasn't too upset because he'd always been an honest child and because I'd had time to pray before facing him. This prayer brought the assurance that no matter what had happened, there could be lessons learned and something good could come from the experience.

Our son and his friend had been on a high adventure that evening, riding their bicycles farther from home. They went into the store just to look around.

"I knew those boys were up to no good the minute they came in," the store manager told the boys' fathers. This mental atmosphere and the temptation to get some "free" wax for their "snurfers" (a precursor to snowboards), combined with the spirit of adventure, swept them along, overriding their high principles and good judgment.

While our son suffered the humiliation of just getting caught, I myself learned a lot from this incident. It isn't enough to teach our children right from wrong; it's also important to alert them to the necessity of being sure that they do their own thinking, as well as being sure that they are thinking. I also learned that I could do better in praying for all the children in our neighborhood and in the world.

We can help our children learn how to bar their doors against temptation and from falling under the influence of others' thinking. I've been impressed by the way Mary Baker Eddy captured that concept in Miscellaneous Writings: "We protect our dwellings securely after a robbery, and our jewels have been stolen; so, after losing those jewels of character,—temperance, virtue, and truth,—the young man is awakened to bar his door against further robberies" (p. 201).

A friend of ours who managed the five and ten cent store in our community told me once that he spent an hour every morning praying for his business and the honesty of his employees and customers. He knew that his kind of store was a hangout for kids and presented many temptations to them, especially the penny candies. He not only prayed for the children, but also arranged things so that there would be less temptation. He believed that was why there was very little shoping lifting in his store.

In parenting, I've found many applications of the Commandment, "Thou shalt not steal" (Ex. 20:15). It is important not to steal children's innocence from them by entertaining a kind of suspicion of their motives. It is also important not to steal their opportunities for growth by passing too lightly over their mistakes. To do this, I pray to see more clearly that this demands prayer that bears witness to perfect God and a perfect creation. I pray to see that as in any science, in Christian Science there are no intrinsic errors. As I learn more about God's perfection, I more quickly discern the goodness inherent in His creation.

This kind of prayer supports innocence and denies suspicious mistrust as it uncovers mistakes for the purpose of correcting them.

I often tell young people that getting caught breaking a law, such as speeding, can really be a sign of their integrity because the high standards they uphold won't let them get away with the slightest infraction.

As they, as well as we adults, learn our lessons from small robberies of character, we do indeed bar our doors against future painful experiences.