Parenting

Parentcaster

Building Higher apparel at High Line 🧢 
Host at /clickcast /cpg || Husband to @shiwen

I don’t tell my toddler to “share”. Why?

First of all, toddlers are just not developmentally ready for the concept of sharing. Even as adults, are we really cool with sharing??? @jachian one time got upset with me because I ate the top of a croffin that we were supposed to be “sharing”. 🤷🏻‍♀️

However, we hear these a lot: “You gotta share with your friends.” “Be nice. Share it with your sister.” Kids are being DEMANDED to share. If we tell them “sharing is caring”, then does “not willing to share” mean “not caring”? Does it make them bad kids? Not at all.

I don’t want my child to take sharing for granted. Yes, it’s ok if you are not ready to share YET. Yes, it’s ok when someone else is not sharing. Yes, it’s ok to say “I prefer playing by myself”. Yes, it’s ok when someone says “no” to you. Yes, ALL of these are OKAY.

Trilingual elementary school teacher raising my daughter to be bilingual. Wife to @jachian

It’s a balance - on one hand I want to nurture their kindness, and on the other hand I want them to learn their autonomy.

I usually create situations where they share (ie you guys can share this muffin), or ask if they want to share.

However if it’s their thing and they say no, I try to get the other to respect that