Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here .

Dear Care and Feeding,

My wife, “Jodi,” and I have been at odds since Halloween over how she handled something our 14-year-old son, “Travis,” did. To make a long story short, Travis and some of his friends stole a bag of candy from a 10-year-old kid. The kid and his mom showed up at our door at the end of the night and told Jodi that Travis had stolen the kid’s candy. Jodi made Travis give it back and apologize, which I think was fair, but then she gave the kid Travis’s candy, too! I think this was going too far; I would have simply grounded him for a week. Jodi said a lesson needed to be learned. Wasn’t this excessive on her part?

—Candy Caper

Dear CC,

One of the thin

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