9 Reasons I’ll Teach My Children to Share

I recently came across an article listing the reasons that children shouldn’t be taught to share. Yes, you read that correctly. Should not share.

Umm, are we trying to make the world a terrible place to live? A place full of self-centered adults who were never taught the importance of sharing? No thanks.

My children will be taught to share. Yes, it’s a hard concept for children to learn. Yes, there will be tears. Sure, they won’t always understand why. But that’s part of my job description — to promote thinking of others before yourself. And that starts with baby dolls and basketballs before they even hit their first birthday.

1. Sharing teaches children that it’s not all about them. It shows them that they need to think about someone else. Considering the feelings and wants of another person is an important life skill.

2. Nobody likes being around selfish people. Guess what selfish kids turn into? Selfish adults. We don’t need more egotistical men and women walking around.

3. Just because I’m teaching my children to share doesn’t mean they have to give up their toy(s) immediately. They don’t even have to give them up every time. It’s about taking turns. If another kid wants the yellow block that my kid is playing with, she can play with it first and then hand it off to her friend.

4. Some have made the argument that we don’t share in our adult lives. Wait what? I can’t speak for your friends, but mine share all the time. One friend recently let me wear her nice dress so I wouldn’t have to buy one for a wedding I attended. Another friend let me borrow a book she had finished reading. Beyond their stuff, my friends share their time regularly. (It’s kinda the basis of this whole friendship thing.)

5. Sharing teaches kids that life isn’t fair. Oh, that’s your favorite toy and you wanted it all to yourself? You can play with it and your friend can play with it too. Yep, you had it first but go ahead and get it in your head now that life isn’t fair. You can’t always play with that toy the whole time.

6. The goal in all of this is to go from mama making them share to little people who choose to share.

7. “You can have a turn now.” File that under important life skills.

8. In order to be contributing members of society, they need to practice these skills while they’re young. They need to be taught how to share. They need to be taught why sharing is important. They don’t just magically get these skills when they graduate from college.

9. “Do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Mic drop.

(Number 9 is Hebrews 13:16. So really, God gets the credit for the mic drop.)