Sharing is a necessary skill that all children must learn if they want to progress through school and into adulthood and the subsequent workplace being liked and as a success. Sharing basically involves knowing when to give something to someone else and let someone else enjoy what you have. With children, this can be letting siblings or friends playing with their toys or belongings or even sharing a meal. There are several ways that parents can go about teaching children to share.
Encourage sharing and giving
Encouraging sharing and giving can be done from the comfort of your own home. Children simply need to know that they can get a feel-good vibe from sharing their things and sharing their happiness with others. If your child has siblings, encourage sharing and giving as and when possible such as when you are playing games as a family or at the dinner table when one sibling is full and another is still hungry.
Reward them when they do something good
Children will naturally respond when rewarded. Giving them a reward for doing something good will result in them wanting to do something good again to get another reward. This is a great way to teach the importance of sharing. If for example, your child gives their toy to another sibling, you can praise them and thank them for being kind and generous. This process can be repeated and the child will eventually learn the importance of sharing.
Teach right from wrong
Not all children are generous and kind to begin with. Sometimes it can simply be because they are in a bad mood, other times because they are growing up and have not yet been taught proper values. Children need to be taught right from wrong and unless taught bad behaviours such as snatching or stealing toys from others will continue. This is something you can do at home and can expect it to be followed through in a childcare setting, take a look at https://toddle.com.au for local childcare options.
Being taught to share can help a child succeed in school and it can also help them make friends and maintain relationships as they grow up. Parents can encourage sharing in their children easily. Simply encourage sharing and giving whenever possible such as asking your child to share their toys or pudding, praise them and reward them when they do something good such as sharing and punish them for being spiteful and greedy as long as they subsequently learn right from wrong and pick up proper values as a result.
Simple games to teach children to share
There are a few simple games which we can play with children which teach them to take turns and to share. Here are just a few examples:
- Tic Tack Toe
- Connect Four
- Pairs and Pairs
- Snap
- Hide and Seek
- Board Games
- Penalty shoot outs
As you can see, there are many different games which you can play which you need to take turns with, they also help to teach children patience and co-operation, you can find lots of other ideas for sharing games here.
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