'Mine'

I know this is a phase, but do you have any tips for helping your toddler through it?

DD1 will have days or times where she is the best, most caring toddler in the world. Other times (which is becoming more and more frequent), everything and anything is hers. It can be the obvious things, like her drink or toys, to the less obvious; other kids' toys, my hairbrush, a piece of playground equipment she has just played with/played with last week/thought about playing with a year ago....

Like I said, I know it's a stage and typical behaviour, but I'm finding it embarrassing (so I guess I'm the one with the problem). Any ways for helping her through the stage as quickly as possible?

Subbing, Miss2 is going through the same thing. Frustrating.

Unfortunately, when my boys went through the same thing, they were not really old enough to comprehend that it is not "theirs" when they decide it is.

All I could do was consistently repeating that we have to share and it is not nice to our friends if they can't play too. Sometimes when I got really frustrated I would say "mine" and hold one of their favourite toys. I know it was childish but sometimes it made them think. I even had them give back my things (like purse, books etc) occasionally and say "not mine" and ask for their toy back.

My advice is simply be consistent.

Thanks for the advice. I tend to do very similar things already. How long did this stage last for you?

For both, they were full on for about 2 months then it only happened occasionally after that.

My 4yr DD old is *still* like this to a degree :o - i think it's a stage ( a long one in my case) but also a "first born" thing - they seem to think *everything* is theirs :lol:

a lot of DD1s clothes have been handed down to DD2 (2yrs old) and whenever she sees DD2 wearing them she says "but they're *my* clothes Mumma". i usually just reply that "yes you wore them first but because you're such a great big sister you've been very kind to now let your sister use them". she's pretty happy with that reply and it's forgotten about until the next *thing* that was hers comes up :)

eta:- when it comes to toys i always emphasise what a good sharer DD1 and how proud I am of her etc. she responds well to lots of positive praise and doesn't like it when i say how *disappointed* i am that she won't share with her sister

Thanks Gee-Whizzy, I too try the tactic of trying to praise for sharing as opposed to harping on the not sharing.

It seems like I'm doing the 'right' things. Hopefully the stage won't be a long one here....

it is frustrating but i keep reminding myself that she has only been on this earth 4yrs, which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't very long at all! there are going to be so many more "life lessons" that she's going to need to learn about that the whole *mine* saga will seem easy :lol:

good luck hun i hope it improves for you soon!:)