Nick I am reading this thread and trying hard to remind myself your daughter is just 5 years old, a young child who is well below the age of criminal and moral responsibility 
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At that age they will push the boundaries and seek out weaknesses in the parents ability to control what is just a small child, with maybe a desire to seek attention for some reason that maybe only you and your wife can identify with. Many young girls will start to have a fascination in cosmetics, purely due to the fact that what mummy does. Certainly at 5 I was plastering make on all over my face because it seemed a fun thing to do. Your daughter taking (not stealing, she is far too young to know that!) your wife's cosmetics is becuase she wants 'a bit of that', and doesn't realise it is wrong.
You and your wife, I advise, should sit down with her and talk to her in a proper parent child manner for her age to explain the rights and wrongs of life, but only at the level she will understand at that age, including all that she has been up to, and what you expect from her from now on. Explain to her that what she has been up to has worried her mummy and daddy. Remind her that everything has to be paid for, and perhaps your wife could take her shopping regularly, letting your daughter hand over the money the shop assistant requires to get her used to the idea 8-) 8-) 8-). Remember, with most girls we LOVE shopping from an early age, so play on that. Ensure that there is no misunderstanding about the fact you have to pay for things in shops, and make that fun for her! Maybe you could also let her have a little set of mum's old make up to play with and a dressing up box for being good, but warn her it will be all taken away if she is naughty again.
Please remember Nick she is only a child of 5, and at that age you both can dictate her behaviour by your actions as the parents; be firm but not too over-bearing.
Believe me what you are going through now may seem testing, but when she becomes a young teenager 
...........I'll say no more as that is a long, long, way off, and you may have a trouble free time 
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Do not take this too seriously, as young children often can give you grief, but handle this in a way that is, I repeat, suitable for a five year old girl.
i was reading this thread and was about to reply when i read Lizzie - everything and more that i was going to say
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Topic: need help with my daughter (Read 3593 times)