Sharing

I got an email from Alicia a mom of two asking for help with her daughter on sharing. Please leave comments, all of you, on what has worked for you.

Some ideas to try:

Give the kids alone time in their room, or in separate rooms if they share. Some times the constant sharing just needs a little break. When the arguing begins, just give them alone time with their toys for a while.

Give them a lesson for a family night or anytime to talk about the importance of sharing. Talk about sharing and then practice sharing with something special to you and then something that is special to each one of them. Pass it around in a circle and say, "Sharing makes us happy!" Maybe have the kids ask the other if they can have a turn and then have the one with the toy say, "No problem, I love to share." We started out with two adults to show the kids what we wanted them to do.

Make up a sharing song to the lyrics of a familiar song to them. Just change the words to the message you want them to repeat over and over.

When ever you need to give something to one of the kids, hand it to the other child and ask them to give it to them for you. Any little practice helps.

Don't freak out when they get into a quarrel. Gently talk them through it with patience. Remind them to use their words (instead of their hands or their crying). With your help and your patience they can learn to talk through their problems.

Set them up to share. Give them controlled situations where they can practice so when they get out on the play floor they can better handle the idea of sharing with each other.

Just some ideas, good luck Alicia. I hope we can get some good answers for you.