To a 2-year-old, the concept of ownership is locked and loaded. "Mine" is a favorite word, used liberally. But in a little tyke's brain, the concept of sharing isn't as fully formed yet. Oh, they know that if they obey a command from Mommy and Daddy to share, there will be rewards. But that doesn't mean they feel any sense of benefit, collaboration or altruism from the act of sharing itself.
That's why sharing is one of the first things to be taught in preschool, and why it often needs to be taught again and again. Even though without a sense of community and collective destiny the human race wouldn't have gotten anywhere, the intrinsic benefits of sharing need to be put back on our radar every now and then..... Read more.
