Lately I've been trying to teach Hannah how to share. I try to remind her about the times others have shared with her, so that she will share with others (without throwing a fit). For instance, she always talks about the playroom that Joe and Judah have. And I say something like, "yeah, their play room is pretty fun, isn't it? It was really nice of them to share all those toys with you, wasn't it?" "yeah" Or, someone will sit in my seat at the table, and Hannah will say "No mommy's seat" at which I'll respond, "Oh mommy's sharing. Mommy likes to share." Well, Hannah's gotten pretty good at sharing. Yesterday she shared some of her string cheese with Peter. I know, big step. Well today we were at my parents house and she grabbed my keys and started playing with the flashlight. "Give Mommy her keys back." And her response, "Mommy share with me." How do you respond to that!! Mommy doesn't have to share? Mommy doesn't have to share all of her things, but you have to share all your things with Peter? There are some things in life that you don't share with other people, like underwear, toothbrushes, car keys and nail clipper (nail clippers are another item similar to the key thing)? But with Hannah (and I'm sure most other 3 year olds) life is pretty black and white: things are right and wrong, there isn't much gray.
Well, has anyone else had this problem? What did you do?
Last Days in Kenya
1 year ago
1 comment:
It is a good discussion. One book about parenting I read said that children should be allowed to have special toys and they should be theirs alone, and they can choose to share but they dont have to. Maybe Hannah could have a special purse or some "big girl" toys that she doesn't have to share with Peter. Parenting is full of interesting dilemas hu?
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