Dealing with a Sneaky 7- year old

Maybe he's developing an insatiable appetite. That might explain sneaking food. Although a guest of the house tells me he offered him a piece of pie, then another one. There was still half a pie left which the seven year old helped himself to when no one was looking. He's not overweight but he's usually mistakin for 9 or 10. Maybe having healthy snacks like apples and bananas accesible will help curb his appetite. As far as taking money, I don't know. Hopefuly, it's just a phase that he'll grow out of or he'll get frustrated and quit.

Yours and the other responses have been very insightful. I was also trying to get a sense if whether or not this is normal for a seven year old. I never tried it but then again I wasn't an only child so maybe knowing there were eyes everywhere was a factor. As far as locking things up, being deprived of whatever the child takes isn't the real concern. The concern is that the child is taking things in the first place. He's also taking things from the room of a guest in the house. The guest now has a lock for his door. He also has the bad habit of staring at people who are eating things that he wants. He'll stand there quietly with a cute smile on his face until they offer it to him. He'll also go stand next to strangers who are buying things from a vending machines and wait to be offered something. If not, he'll ask. None of the things he does in the presence of his parent which tells me he knows what he's doing is inappropriate. So far talking and depriving him of things hasn't work. He seems to feel if I can get away with it, I'm going to go for it.