Mine, Mine, Mine

My 15-month-old daughter, Nicole, is pretty good at sharing. She’ll share food, kisses, books; she’ll even offer you a piece of the day-old raisin she found on the floor. She’s a giver.

But try to play with one of her toys and you better be prepared to stand back and watch her head spin around 180 degrees.

She becomes a monster.

I watched recently as a playmate of hers innocently picked up a stuffed animal from Nicole’s toy pile, and before I knew it, Nicole marched over to the girl, stared her straight in the eye and bit her. My sweet little girl clamped down on her friend’s wrist until she relinquished the puppy dog.

Another day, I had a friend over with her 18-month-old daughter, and I found Nicole huddled in the corner with a toy in each hand clutched to her chest and a stuffed animal in her teeth.

As I watched my daughter frantically guarding her toys, I couldn’t help but think of Shel Silverstein’s “Prayer of the Selfish Child”:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my toys to break.
So none of the other kids can use ‘em. . .
Amen.

So, help me — how do you teach a toddler to share?