Share: When To Demand This From Children?
The act of sharing is a very present issue in the lives of parents and children. Parents, in general, demand that their children share their belongings with other children, as it is logical that we want our children to be good people and, above all, generous.
Sharing can be quite conflicting if there is no correct teaching for it. We’ve all taken our children to a park once to play with some of their toys and we’ve witnessed some disputes, especially between mothers and children, demanding that they share their toys when another child asks to play with them.
Sharing for kids vs. sharing for adults
They say that life is the way to be a good person. As adults, we learn that a personal relationship is worth more than anything material. That material things spoil, break or even we don’t like them with time. But a brother, a sister, a friend, that’s for life. We learn to trust others and to give and share everything we have, regardless of whether the other person breaks or loses.
That’s the difference between adults and children: our life path is much more traveled than theirs. Perhaps many of us are lucky enough to have been raised by generous people who taught us to be generous from an early age.
Others, we may have to learn for themselves. Either way, we’re sure you want to teach your child to share. Nobody likes to see an arrogant, self-centered child who doesn’t want to share their toys, their food, or their treats. So it’s important that you start laying the groundwork from early childhood. But keep one thing in mind: our title says “when to demand this from children?”. So, let’s talk more about that below.
Demanding and teaching to share: what’s the difference?
As we said at the beginning, when a child is forced or forced to share his stuff, we may be forcing him to do something he doesn’t want to do. It would be like being told to give our bag of our belongings to a stranger. That’s why our recommendation is to build a good foundation for teaching out of love.
It sounds easy to say and not so easy to do, but it’s not that hard. You should take advantage of any situation that arises to begin instilling in your child’s mind and heart a desire to share.
For example, it’s not strange that your young daughter wants to wear your heels or your makeup. Take the opportunity to show her that it’s your stuff, but that you let her use it because you trust her and you know she’ll be careful. Also show that you are happy to know that she likes something you shared with her.
Take the opportunity to touch your little heart with questions like: “ Don’t you like to be happy too? Did you know that if you share your toys with… (your brother/sister, your neighbor, the children in the park, etc…) you will also feel that way? And do you know the best? They will also let you use their stuff and it will be like having new toys every day. That would be really cool, wouldn’t it? ”
It’s not difficult for a child to break something they took without permission or something you lent them. If you want to teach your child that love is above all and that no matter what is material, you shouldn’t be angry. Take advantage of the situation to say something like, “It’s okay, honey, it’s just an object. You’re worth more than that and I don’t want to make you cry for being mad at you.”
Show the child that if he lends someone something and it breaks, that’s okay. It’s better to make others feel good. Also, things can always be replaced, but people can’t. But remember: you must lead by example. Don’t be angry and always speak with love.
If you lead by example, you can remind your child of what you share with him and show that material things are not important. This will help you to be a good person in the future. Think about it, would the world be so ambitious and corrupt if everyone had learned to live like this?
Our response to the title of this article: “Sharing: when to demand this from children?” it is brief but concrete: never. However, if we change the word “require” to “teach”, our answer will be: always.
It is not always necessary to sit and talk with your child to teach one thing or another, enjoy every moment!
