Custom «Childhood Memory(Shoplifting) » Essay Paper Sample

I. Attention-gaining opening:

I was just seven years old when I visited the mall on my own the first time, it is one of the most memorable childhood events that I remember to date. At the time I did not think about the risk that I was taking since at that age you don't make any big plans any day. At that moment all that mattered was the fun that I going to have from the moment I made my escape. It's from this frame of mind that I like to think about what it really felt to be a child.

II. Definition:

Am I first born in a family of three, from the moment I was born my parents treasured me very much and were very overprotective, I was their first and this meant that I was their joy from the word go. Though my parents pampered me in every moment that they got, they were very busy with their jobs and my mother just took a two year leave to raise me after which she went back to work. This meant that I had to spend most of the time with house helps which was not a very good experience. Though my parents were not at home most of the time, they made sure that they left strict orders on how I was going to be taken care of. This started from the time I was two years of age to when I turned seven.

My life was so monotonous since the house help were not allowed by my parents to let me out of the house to play. Thinking back about those moments I can't help and think how overprotective my parents were. I would watch my neighbors' kids ride their bikes up and down the street while the others played with their toys. I would envy them very much and this got me to plead with my parents to allow me to play with our neighbors' kids but my plea fell on deaf ears constantly. My parents were paranoid and pondering about it today I guess they were being overprotective because when I was three years old there was an incident that happened in our estate whereby a young girl was kidnapped and held hostage by a neighbor for almost eight weeks. Being kept in the house was the price I had to pay for my safety.

III. General Focus:

My parents got me so many toys and I got everything that I wanted so that I would stay indoors and not pressure them to go out. The only time that I went out was when my parents took me shopping. At seven years my life was so boring and freedom to even play with other children was just a dream. At some point my mother changed house helps and hired a young lady who was 22 years old. She rarely watched me and after finishing her chores she would just sit and file her nails; she did not care about me and I guess she felt that I was too big to be cared for like a child.

This is when my life started changing, I became close to her and she would let me out for a while before my parents came home from work. The young house help would even call her boyfriend up and they would watch a movie or just chat and it is in such moments that I would sneak out. She would note my absence after an hour and she would come fetch me and sometimes scold me.

This got to a point where I could not take anymore and sought to prove the point that I was old enough to be left on my own. On one particular day which was to go down in history as one of my most memorable moment, I laid out a plan. My plan was to wait till our house help was busy grooming or talking to her boyfriend to make my escape. When the moment came I snuck out and run as first as I could until I was out of sight of our house. I was happy as a horse and even those around noticed my happiness.

What I did not know at that time was that my happiness would turn to tears in the next five hours. I knew little of the surroundings since I never got to walk and all I knew was what I got to see from the back seat of my fathers Benz. I walked slowly and savored every moment, I loved everything from the chirping of the birds to the chattering people that I passed on the way. At that time I realized that freedom meant so much and this would be a lesson for my parents to stop locking me up like a small child. My plan was to go to town which was just a short distance from our home.

As I walked along the well cultivated sidewalks, I came across some neighbors but I pretended not to see them because I did not want my journey to be cut short. It took me thirty minutes to get to town and after arriving there my excitement peaked when I noticed that there were merry go round everywhere. I had little money and I paid and hopped on, I stayed for so long and I did not realize that I had spent so much time there. By the time I got out, it was around three am and the roads in town were impassable. My excitement started to turn to worry. Most of the children who were standing on the roadside had their hands held by their parents waiting to cross. I was scared to go over and ask for assistance because I was afraid they would enquire why I was alone and call my parents.

I spent more than thirty minutes on the roadside before I crossed over, by that time my worry had turned to agony. Though I was troubled, this did not stop me from exploring further since I continued walking into the interior. I came across an ice cream van and bought some because I was so hungry. This gave me strength to explore further, I don't know whether it was my inquisitive nature that made me to continue or the fact that I knew my parents were looking for me at that instance, all I knew was that I had to enjoy each and every moment. My next stop was a shopping mall and for the first time I made my entrance alone feeling proud and very happy. My worry had subsided a bit and thus I did not have any problem looking at every exciting thing that I came across. I only had two dollars with me by the time I got to the market mall, I got to see a lot of things that I wanted but I was sure that money was the limiting factor. This awareness lasted for only a short while because after I came across my favorite chocolate chips I could not resist. The spoiled kid in me wanted all the stuff that I had seen and this led me to make one of the stupidest decisions that I was to ever make as a child.

I waited until everyone was out of sight and stole a small pack and stuffed it in my pocket. Little did I know that there were cameras all over and as I made my way out of the mall someone came up behind me and caught my arm, I turned around to see who it was and to my surprise it was a cop. He asked me whether I had take anything from the mall which I had not paid for, I denied and he reached for my pockets which made me protest so that he would not know that I had stolen the chocolate chips, but he got to my pocket and removed the pack. We had attracted a small crowd and after I noticed that some people were watching, I started crying. I pleaded with the cop to let me go and that I would never steal again but he would not hear anything of it, all he said was that he was going to teach me a lesson that I would never forget. The more he held my hand the louder I cried and the more anguish I felt. I was so embarrassed and scared that I peed on myself. The cop showed a bit of sympathy after he noticed how scared I was and started asking me questions. I told him the whole story and he could not hide his amusement. He told me that he would not let me go because the administration did not allow it and thus he had to take me to the station. I was so scared and started crying all over again. I guess he had no choice and would not let me go because the store had strict rules on dealing with shoplifters. The most surprising thing is that even though I was in total anguish, I did not wish at any one time that I was back home, I just wished that my parents would come over for me and take me back home, after learning the lesson that locking me up would not work.

Before I was taken to the police station, one of my neighbors who had been shopping noticed me and came over to enquire what was wrong. I explained to him and he called up my parents to come get me. When my parents came to pick me up, I noticed relieve on their faces and they hugged me fiercely. They fired the house help and next day they took me to school and I loved it there as opposed to being locked up in the house. Till now I usually get chills at the thought of shoplifting. One of my most memorable childhood memories taught me: shoplifting is an offense and if you don't want to face the law enforcers, you should not do it.