teaching to share

[kfillmore]

Anyone have a good way to teach sharing? I have a 10 month old and we are just starting to try to be more social with other children. DD has no bad habits/behaviour yet-a virgin of sorts

[tzs]

i used to teach 2 year olds and i can;t remember at what age you can introduce "sharing." it definately wasn't 2. maybe 3 or 4?
even at two they can't grasp it. and when you try to introduce a concept too early you can sometimes end up with a major backfire (ex. "i'm sorry" doesn't come into play until 3 or so. i've seen younger kids trained to say "i'm sorry" and then hit other kids more b/c "i'm sorry" is their get-out-of-jail card so to say)
at the age of 3 or younger you just have to work on "taking turns."
at that age and certainly much younger, there really are no bad habits when it comes to toys. what they are playing with is "theirs."
for a much younger kid, before "taking turns," i'd start with emphasis on being gentle with others. how to "use gentle hands" when expressing themselves. because without language, hitting is going to happen and it is a normal and appropriate response to frustration. so when it happens you can model how we touch our friends in a gentle way.

[kfillmore]

Thanks tzs. And I did mean sharing AND taking turns. Good note to separate them. I think not everyone does.

By the way do you have any good book recommendations?

[tzs]

sorry...learned in the trenches
really i think modeling is the most important thing above all. i even say please and thank you, and "that is sooooo nice!" to the dog when the baby is around.
and also to realize that little kid behavior is not "bad" (hitting, biting, all that), it's just how they deal and then you can give them the tools to cope in other ways and not make a huge deal when they do these things.