Sharing is one of the most complicated things to teach a young child. Whether it’s with siblings or peers, the concept of sharing a favorite toy or item is such a challenge. Even though that may be the case, sharing is something that children absolutely need to learn, and the sooner they do, the better. In today’s blog post, the team at Toddler Town Daycare in Chicago will share a few techniques that you can use to teach sharing at home. These lessons, when encouraged and enforced, can help a child develop an understanding for sharing so much faster.
“Mine! Mine! Mine”
This is easily one of the most popular words for toddlers to use, alongside no, of course. While it may be a word that they know and say with confidence, it’s not one that you want to encourage the use of. At this age, if a child sees an item and says “mine,” they are expecting no one else to have it, thus making the process of sharing all the more difficult. For this reason, we suggest correcting them when they say the word “mine” about particular objects, which brings us to our next point.
Set Aside Special Items
Sharing is something that we all need to know how to do, but there are certain things — for all of us — that we simply don’t want to share. While you certainly want your child to learn how to share, there should be an item (maybe a favorite toy) that they don’t have to share with their siblings or friends. Though you may have an idea of what this item is, work with them to determine which item (or couple of items) they don’t have to share. This should be a team effort so that you can explain to them that these special items are theirs, and they can be put away when friends are over so they don’t have to share them. Aside from these items, however, they do need to practice sharing.
Use a Timer
As silly as it may sound, setting a timer for playing with particular toys is a great technique for sharing. While time is not a construct that toddlers will understand, they are more likely to understand taking turns. Let them know that you are setting a time for them to play with a toy and, when their turn is over, it’s someone else’s turn. After a while, they begin to understand the concept of turns and are much more understanding when someone else wants a chance to play with a toy.
Let Toddler Town Daycare Help
As we mentioned earlier, one of the many benefits of a toddler attending daycare is the opportunity to practice lessons like sharing. At Toddler Town Daycare, we take pride in the basic skills (like sharing) and the thorough curriculum that we teach the children. If you’d like to learn more about our daycare facility, contact our office. Our team would be more than happy to answer any questions or assist with your child’s enrollment.
