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Sharing:
Teaching your child to share can be one of the most difficult things to teach them. They don't want to share, but they want other children to share with them. This can be especially hard to teach if your child has no siblings and doesn't go to school or daycare. Even when they are around other kids on a regular basis, it is still difficult to convince your child to be nice and share.
After all, one of the first words a child learns is "mine." There is a reason that they learn this word, and it's so they can use it every time someone touches something that belongs to them.
The best way to help them pass this phase as quickly as possible is to teach by example. Share your stuff with them. Let them play with things that are yours and you can play with things that are theirs. Practice with them, having them let you see their toy, and you letting them play with something of yours. They will likely be okay with this sometimes, and not during others.
This is fine, and if your child begins screaming because you took their toy away, you may want to wait until another day to try it. If they continue to do this every time you ever try to borrow one of their toys, you will eventually have to go ahead and take it anyway. After all, the point of doing this is so they don't behave this way when another child takes their things.
While you are practicing sharing, you will want to remind your child what you are doing. Tell them that you will give their toy back when you are done, and then be sure to do that. You don't have to do it for very long, just long enough so that your child gets used to the idea of someone else touching their things.
You will also want to praise them every time you ask them for one of their toys and they give it to you willingly. Making a big deal out of it (clapping, etc.) can help encourage them to continue doing it.
One way to try to handle a child when they are in the midst of playing with other children (and they don't want to share) is to distract them. You can do this most of the time by giving them a different, new toy for them to play with. If you can distract them from it for the time, it can help. Then, when the child gives the toy back, you should make a big deal out of it.
Remind them that someone else used their things and now they have them back and it's no big deal. This way, you can remind them of it the next time they don’t feel like sharing something.
Doing these things won't always work, but they can often help some. The thing to remember is that children learn by watching you, so you should set the example, and then hope for the best. And always remember that it is simply a phase and your child will grow out of it.
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