School age and Stealing

[melskids]

i have a zero tolerance for children stealing from my house. its just one of those things i cant tolerate. its happened before, quite a few years back, and i now have a policy in my handbook that says the child will be terminated immediately if they steal from my home. now i'm not talking a 2 or 3 year old who puts something in their pocket and tries to leave with it. i'm talking about a 7.5 year old who should know better. do you think this is too harsh of a policy? i caught a child today trying to take legos from BOTH of my childrens rooms. he is 7 and 1/2. he should know better right? i decided to finish the summer w/ this child, for the moms sake, (she'll NEVER find care now for 3 weeks until school starts) but told her he will not be welcomed back after that. and he is no longer allowed out of my sight as i dont trust him anymore. he is also the one SA causing all of the trouble and grief this summer anyway, so i was looking for a good excuse to teminate. when i talked to mom tonight, she just stood there with this blank look on her face, like she always does. no response, nothing. am i wrong? bllowing this out of proportion? has anyone had to deal with this before?