Tips On Encouraging Children to Share

It's not realistic to expect children to be willing to share all their possessions. Even we adults have things that are special to us and 'off limits' to others, and children are no different.

The first step is to identify your child's very special and personal possessions, such as a favourite toy companion, a well-loved blanket, or a particular piece of crockery or cutlery.

If you have more than one child, allocate a fixed place for each child to keep the items important to him.

Stress that the items from the 'special corners' cannot be removed without the specific permission of the owner.

Let your child choose the toys that can be shared with others. For these, turn-taking is often a more successful strategy than sharing.

Instead of commanding your child to share, ask him to grant turns to others to play with the oy in question. Remind the child that he still retains ownership, and the right to have the toy back after the other child's turn is up.

Another technique is 'counting' or 'timed play'. Each child is given a specific length of time to spend with a particular toy, after which they need to pass it on to others to have their turn. Counting reinforces the concept of fair play.

To allow your children more practice in sharing and co-operative play, provide them with plenty of opportunities to play with others.

Group play allows children to master social skills, especially if the adults make it a point to allow children to sort out difficulties that arise among themselves.

Children learn by observing the behaviour of those around them, and parents are a child's best role models. When you share with your child, you are showing your child the behaviour you want to encourage.