How to encourage sharing for under 2's????

[swindonminder]

Hi,

2 of my lo's are having problems sharing the toys. There are times when they will quite happily play together with the toys/books etc but they tend to want the same thing that the other has and will try to take it from them.

How can I encourage sharing for under 2's???

Thanks in advance :)

[sarah707]

Have you ever seen this poem?

http://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/12550/54.html

It sums up many 2 and 3 year olds nicely.

The only way to manage it is to be absolutely consistent, talk about sharing, involve dolls in sharing, read books about sharing...

And wait for them to grow up a bit :D

[PixiePetal]

my 2yr old mindee had new words he has learnt - 'wait' 'kind' 'share' and 'take turns' :rolleyes: now we are trying to understand the meaning and I think I am at last winning :laughing: :thumbsup: consistency rules:D

He will now wait while another plays with a toy (ok sometimes after a head to head!) saying wait, take turns and me praising him and making sure he then gets his turn and praising again.

It can be a long slog - I am not looking forward to next week - he has been on hols with extended family and no doubt been doted on so may be back to square one for a while :rolleyes:

[catlyn]

Have you ever seen this poem?

http://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/12550/54.html

It sums up many 2 and 3 year olds nicely.

The only way to manage it is to be absolutely consistent, talk about sharing, involve dolls in sharing, read books about sharing...

And wait for them to grow up a bit :D

Ha Ha ....love it...that describes my 2 toddlers exactly...especially the 15month old who rules the roost with the 20 month old

[zippy]

Someone once said to me that a lot of toddlers dont really understand what we mean when we use the word share, and instead we should say take a turn or it's his turn now. Does seem to work more when I remember to putnit into practise, other than that ball games, rolling cars to each other, simple pairs games etc

[swindonminder]

Thank you :)

[Goatgirl]

Mine are all over 3 at the moment, yay!

but when they were smaller ... I make it quite clear that all the toys are actually MINE :D , but luckily I'm very kind and share with everyone who comes to play at my house. Aren't they lucky?!
One of our house rules is to be kind and helpful and I often remind everyone that we're All important and we All want to have a nice time. For the Taking turns: how about something very simple and very visual like an eggtimer which the children can see to help them get the concept? Or to help with listening skills, set an audible timer?

Apart from that, for me its just staying outwardly calm and cheerful and consistent with removing snatched toys and 'expecting' that they'll behave well - 'that's not like you : you're a lovely sharing friend' etc etc :thumbsup:

Hope you find a happy way through, its a very draining stage :)

best wishes,
Wendy :)