Before, the twins shared almost everything save for a few toys that were given specifically to them for their birthday or Christmas. So basically the rule was, they were playing with it first so they get to play with it. Now, they are faced with a new sharing concept they had only encountered a few times in the past; what to do when they are playing with another kids toy and the child wants the toy back.
At first this was a difficult thing to teach. How do you approach something so simple yet so complex with a three year old? Well I thought about it like this; if a friend were to lend me their computer but then wanted it back, of course I would give it back! So I then started thinking about it in terms of how the normal adult would approach each "sharing" dilemma and tutored them as such. Something like, "Now Evan, sharing is important but its also important to return the toy when Mary wants it back and say thank you for letting you play with it."
Of course they are three, so this causes another problem all together, like the twins taking toys from Mary because they want it back but not because they actually want to play with it. They simply don't want HER to play with it. Of course, it is important to have things that they don't have to share because this is just part of being a person, but in the general sense I tell them that it is important to share their toys with Mary too and that if they don't want to play with it they should be nice and let her play with it.
This is a never ending loop in our house hold right now. Who knew sharing could be so complicated? How do you Mamas deal with sharing in your households and how do you teach your children the important foundation of sharing?