Ever since I was old enough to understand the dancing purple dinosaur on my TV I’ve been told to share.  I was raised to take turns, be polite, and wait patiently. I’ve been raising my daughter the same way- if she brings a snack to a playdate, she brings enough to share. If she’s playing in the church nursery with some blocks, she must share with the other children, or better yet, build WITH them.

Blogger Beth W for PopSugar.com has a different take on the childhood behavior staple that is making some parents rethink their sharing policies.

I don’t agree with the approach of the mothers in either of these situations. I think it does a child a great disservice to teach him that he can have something that someone else has, simply because he wants it. And I can understand the desire to give your children everything they want; we all have it. But it’s a good lesson for you both to learn that this isn’t always possible, and you shouldn’t step all over other people to get these things.

while I understand where Beth is coming from- the grown up world is very much dog eat dog and we as adults usually hold on to what we have as long as we can- I don’t think that is an ideal I want to teach my child. I want my daughter to understand that material items are not as important as the good relationships with her friends and community and that if she has something to share, she should out of the goodness of her heart, not just because someone asked for it. What do you think about Beth’s policy on sharing? Would you raise your child in a similar manner or is sharing still something to put a lot of parenting effort into?