Lately, I've been working a lot on sharing at home. I've tried taking Phoenix to playgroups, but have temporarily put those on hold. You see, there's quite a small window of time between when I can get Phoenix, Ariana, and myself up, fed, and ready to go in the morning... and when it's time to come home for lunch & nap. If I'm out with Phoenix too close to nap time, he gets cranky, and turns into an entirely different person.
Long story short, after two separate biting incidents, I realized that the playdates didn't seem to be helping him much in developing social skills, so I grudgingly phased them out of our routine. For now at least. It's been about 1 month since we've been to a playgroup. And, while nearly every day I'm tempted to take him back to see how he acts around other children, I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm just so scared that he might bite again, that the fear of the "maybe" keeps me from going. It'd be one thing if it was just Phoenix & I... but it's not. My attention is split between him & Ariana... who may or may not be nursing at any given moment. I know I can't give him my full attention, and since I can't, I just don't go.
So, our sharing lessons have been limited to the home lately, and I'm okay with that. In fact, Ariana is to the age where she's taking interest in toys... Phoenix's toys. And, I'm taking full advantage of this by using it as a way to teach him to share.
He's certainly not always happy about having to share his things...
But I think the more he sees that sharing can truly make other people happy, the more he'll see how fun sharing can really be!
Do you have any tips on teaching children to share? Leave a comment.
