You know you just might want to look into the symptoms of ADHD. It may not be that, but over on the ADHD forum where I also am the CL I have seen things like this before. Anyway, check out this link -
http://www.help4adhd.org/en/about/what/WWK1
Let me know what you think.
Thank you for commenting! No our family is great my husband is around but he works 2pm-10pm so at night I am the only one home. And yea it is stressful on me at times. His grades and homework have both been slipping as of lately. He leaves it at school, or he takes an hour even with me helping him to get the answers, it use to take him 15 minutes or so. I'm nor sure about outside influences the only thing that comes to my mind is an incident from last year. He was taking spare change we had laying around to axhool . When we asked him about it he saidhe was paying kids to pplay with him. However, I don't think he is the one being "bullied" anymore. I just got a note from the principal today telling me that my son was pushing and bullying another child on the playground.
Opps, forgot to add that changing behavior is much easier to do if you can figure out what is causing the behavior. Family dynamics is one thing as rockrose suggested. Outside influences is another. ADHD is another. All are treated differently.
Yes, this is unusual behavior for an 8 year old. The stealing of a drivers license and debt card is even more unusual then the stealing of that large an amount of cash (which also is unusual). Is there any older person around that might be influencing/threatening him? Have any of his playmates parents also noticed money disappearing? With a little bit of luck your debit card will be used and you will get more info from that.
The only other thought I have is that this does sound like something that a child with ADHD might be doing. How are his grades at school? Up till this point had he had any other problems at school either this year or last year?
They say children steal items to seal up a hole in their hearts.
Do you have a fully intact family, with your husband being present, who is the father of all your boys?
Or are there family dynamics that leave your oldest son as kind of an odd-man-out?