Sharing Toys

I read somewhere that children must be 'trained' to give and share with others . Perhaps a toddler is a little too young to fully grasp the concept of sharing and giving but I thought such actual actions of passing an item you own to someone could be made fun and a good habit to cultivate.

The parenting tip from some parenting magazine wrote that if you give your chil、 more than her allocated share (items/pocket money/treats) and explain to her that she now has more than enough to share it out with another person, she will be more receptive to "sharing" (logic :you are not taking something away from her and leaving her with nothing). I thought that was totally logical. I mean, we won't be donating to any charity if we don't have enough for ourselves right? So why force a child to share her ONLY teddy bear with a friend just to display 'manners' for parents' vanity's sake? Likewise, I don't see why a child should be reprimanded if he/she doesn't want to share his stuff with Megan. I think I end up explaining to parents more often than I have to explain to Megan that it is OK not to share (at least for a 2yo).

I do think this can be refined at a later stage to teach Megan true, selfless sharing and giving but she is 2. We can wait.

For now, I think Megan understands the concept of sharing (BJ has a song "It's good to share, you show you care, it's good to share, you show you care with a friend" - that helps a little in reinforcing the concept).

We were getting ready to meet her friends at IKEA and I was trying to get her excited about going cos she had swimming on her mind instead (but we HAD to go IKEA cos I had a meeting lined up as well). So I told Megan she could bring her "burgers" along to the kitchen playset.

Megan: 我不要，等一下 wang-wang 会抢 (I don't want to, later wang-wang will snatch)
Mama: 。。。
Megan: (suddenly realises she has a brilliant solution and added before I could respond) eh, 有三个 ham & cheese，好，带去 (eh, I have 'three' ham & cheese, ok, I'll bring)

(Megan calls her burger toy ham & cheese sandwich)

Mama: 好！等一下你可以 share (Great! You can share these later)
Megan: 好! 这个给wang-wang

No sure if Megan really knows who is wang-wang (she calls another boy wang-wang too, but I think she does recognise wang-wang cos we meet up quite a bit). She loves to talk about wang-wang snatching things, but she loves to bring her stuff for him as well! Every new toy she has, it will be "eh, Megan 有三个, 可以给 wang-wang" (eh, Megan has 3, can give wang-wang 1). She loves wang-wang, but she loves to whine about him as well. LOL.

Disclaimer: Megan cannot count, she will say "三个,三块,三毛" everything is "THREE" to her if its more than ONE.