How to Teach a Kid to Share

To get along positively with others, children must become proficient at sharing. While sharing is an important ability, kids may find it tough to develop and refine this skill. The process of teaching your child to share must include helping your child develop empathy and patience. Make sure your expectations for sharing are realistic and in line with your child̵7;s age and maturity level. A child younger than the age of 2 does not have enough emotional maturity to share effectively, warns Ask Dr. Sears.

Instructions

    • 1

      Develop empathy in your child by giving your child empathy, advises Aha! Parenting. Giving empathy involves noticing your child̵7;s positive and negative feelings when they occur and naming them for him to teach awareness. With awareness comes the ability to express feelings and then release them. Eventually, your youngster will be able to use empathy skills to consider how other people feel, too, which helps with sharing skills.

    • 2

      Encourage sharing rather than forcing it. In a sharing situation, instead of interfering and forcing your child to hand over a toy to a peer, explore how the other child might be feeling to tap into your child̵7;s empathy skills. Once your child develops strong empathy, she will likely have internal nudges to share without your guidance.

    • 3

      Suggest compromises that help everyone feel comfortable. Compromises might include taking turns with a toy with time limits. The sharing child might even have input about the length of each child̵7;s turn to give the youngster some feelings of control.

    • 4

      Respect your child̵7;s feelings about sharing to avoid placing unreasonable demands on your youngster or causing a negative reaction. At times, your child may feel strongly about not sharing specific items with special significance. A new birthday doll that your child just unwrapped might be an example of this situation.

    • 5

      Set a positive example of generosity and sharing for your kid to emulate. Make sure your kid sees that you share willingly with others. Loaning a power tool to a neighbor, letting your sister wear a scarf that matches her sweater or even giving outgrown coats to charity are examples of sharing that your children might witness.

    • 6

      Communicate your expectations for respectful sharing to ensure that everyone feels validated and important. Asking before taking someone else̵7;s things, considering requests to use belongings and treating other people̵7;s property with care might be some ground rules for your family.

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