A mom told her son he doesn't have to share his toys with other kids and posted her story on Facebook. Other parents responded positively to her reasons. Most of them agreed she was right to teach her child to refuse to share.
Alanya Kolberg and her boy Carson were in the park when several kids, who were mostly strangers to them, approached her son. Carson brought toys he planned on playing with one friend he's meeting in the park. The other kids, however, wanted to play with the toys as well.
In a post on Facebook, Kolberg related she told her son she can say no to the other children. The parents in the park gave her judging looks but Kolberg also wondered what manners these parents were teaching their kids.
She explained her son was uncomfortable about having six children demanding he shared his toys. "The goal is to teach our children how to function as adults," Kolberg wrote. "While I do know some adults who clearly never learned how to share as children, I know far more who don't know how to say no to people, or how to set boundaries, or how to practice self-care."
Other parents agreed with Kolberg's statements on teaching kids to share. Her post earned over 153,000 likes and nearly 160,000 shares on Facebook as of press time.
Experts said the mom was right to insist her son can decide if he wants to share or not. Dr. Myrna Shure and Dr. Susan Ashley both agreed parents sometimes teach children behaviors they can't quite grasp yet only because they have to imitate and follow the norm, as per ATTN.
"Parents all want their children to share and we do, too," educator Tovah Klein told ABC News. "We want these children to eventually be generous, cooperative children who get along in the world and get along with their peers," she said.
Younger children, however, could be challenged by the altruistic concept of sharing because as Klein said, "They are just figuring out who they are." Klein also said if parents left children to work out their conflict themselves, it usually turns out better than when adults meddled.
How do you teach the concept of sharing to your kids, parents? Care to share tips in the comments section below?
