Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #893 Sharing is Caring
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
- 0:07Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers. Now, you can
- 0:11Speaker 1: email your parenting questions to podcasts. That's podcasts with an
- 0:15Speaker 1: ss at happy families dot com dot AU. That's podcasts
- 0:19Speaker 1: at happy families dot com dot A. You good. This
- 0:22Speaker 1: is doctor Justin Colson. I'm here with Kylie, my wife,
- 0:25Speaker 1: mum to our six kids, and Kylie. Today's conversation is
- 0:27Speaker 1: all about kids and sharing. This is a little kid's
- 0:30Speaker 1: conversation parents with kids that just don't want to share
- 0:34Speaker 1: with their siblings because it's mine. Every time I hear
- 0:38Speaker 1: that word, I think of the crabs in finding Nemo
- 0:42Speaker 1: My Mine. I found a quote though, that goes so
- 0:48Speaker 1: beautifully with the question I'm about to read. This was
- 0:50Speaker 1: just a funny meme that showed up and it said,
- 0:52Speaker 1: I can't believe I shared my body with a child
- 0:57Speaker 1: that won't even share their eminems with me. Kids hate sharing,
- 1:02Speaker 1: sometimes some kids love it, but most kids really struggle
- 1:05Speaker 1: to share. This is the question that we've received from
- 1:08Speaker 1: a long time listener of the podcast, who says, Hi,
- 1:11Speaker 1: Justin and Kuiley, I'm a long time listener of the
- 1:12Speaker 1: podcast and I've gone back listening through from the beginning.
- 1:15Speaker 1: I need help with sharing. When it comes to more
- 1:20Speaker 1: of a shared toy not owned by one of our kids,
- 1:22Speaker 1: I say, okay, you both want the ball, for example,
- 1:25Speaker 1: how can we solve this so you both get a turn,
- 1:29Speaker 1: and then I'll offer some solutions. But our eight year
- 1:31Speaker 1: old daughter will not let her four year old brother
- 1:33Speaker 1: even touch anything of hers. It's a big battle in
- 1:36Speaker 1: our home. Long ago, I suggested she could choose some
- 1:40Speaker 1: of her favorite toys that are special to her, and
- 1:42Speaker 1: I wouldn't expect her to share those if she didn't
- 1:45Speaker 1: want to. But it's gone well beyond that now, and
- 1:48Speaker 1: almost anything her brother picks up, she claims it's my
- 1:50Speaker 1: special toy and so he can't touch anything of hers.
- 1:55Speaker 1: I've tried sitting down with her at a time when
- 1:57Speaker 1: she's calm to talk about her feelings and also what
- 2:00Speaker 1: she feels or thinks about when she sees her brother
- 2:02Speaker 1: pick something up of hers, but she isn't too sure.
- 2:06Speaker 1: It's a daily fight in our home, and she absolutely
- 2:08Speaker 1: bursts out, yelling at him, snatches, calls him names, and more.
- 2:11Speaker 1: It's awful to watch because our four year old is
- 2:13Speaker 1: so gentle and has always been so accommodating and loves
- 2:16Speaker 1: sharing with her. But now as he's getting older and
- 2:18Speaker 1: seeing his sister repeatedly not share, he is now starting
- 2:21Speaker 1: to say no to her as he has learned that
- 2:23Speaker 1: behavior from her, And it's so sad to see. I'm
- 2:26Speaker 1: at a loss of what to do anymore.
- 2:29Speaker 2: I feel like every time we have one of these
- 2:31Speaker 2: dilemmas we talk about how this is the bane of
- 2:34Speaker 2: any parents' life, that this is the bane, isn't it.
- 2:38Speaker 2: It's so hard when you're dealing with kids that just
- 2:41Speaker 2: won't share.
- 2:42Speaker 1: And sharing that is so much. I mean, it's so
- 2:44Speaker 1: important from a social perspective. I would be really interested
- 2:47Speaker 1: to know if Miss eight is sharing well with her
- 2:50Speaker 1: friends at school or when friends come over to play.
- 2:53Speaker 1: How does she go with sharing then? Or is it
- 2:55Speaker 1: just a brother thing? Or is it well?
- 2:57Speaker 2: And is it just toys or is there an issue
- 2:59Speaker 2: with sharing mom and dad? Is there an issue with
- 3:03Speaker 2: sharing food?
- 3:04Speaker 1: Like?
- 3:04Speaker 2: Is it just a toy thing?
- 3:06Speaker 1: A quick tangent? I got to share this. Whenever the
- 3:08Speaker 1: kids have got a treat or something that I want
- 3:11Speaker 1: to have a taste of, I'll ask for a sip
- 3:14Speaker 1: or I'll ask for a bite, and it's the dad tax, right.
- 3:17Speaker 1: I mean, every dad has the right to enforce the
- 3:19Speaker 1: dad tax on their kids and the yummy food that
- 3:21Speaker 1: they've got. But I've got this thing with the kids
- 3:23Speaker 1: where I want them to share willingly. I don't know
- 3:25Speaker 1: if I should do this. I actually don't know if
- 3:26Speaker 1: there's a good science or not. But when I start said,
- 3:28Speaker 1: let's say I'm having a drink, They've got a milkshake,
- 3:30Speaker 1: and I start to drink the milkshake. As I'm drinking
- 3:33Speaker 1: that milkshake, I'll have a couple of big SIPs, okay,
- 3:35Speaker 1: Or if it's an ice cream, I'll have a half
- 3:37Speaker 1: decent sized bite. And if they start to react and protest,
- 3:40Speaker 1: if they start saying no, no, no, that's enough, that's enough,
- 3:43Speaker 1: I look at them and say, the more you are
- 3:45Speaker 1: reluctant to share, the more I take. But the more
- 3:49Speaker 1: willing you are to share, the less I have. And
- 3:52Speaker 1: it stops them winging instantly. And it also serves the
- 3:56Speaker 1: wonderful jewel purpose of I get to have as much
- 3:58Speaker 1: as I want in peace, but I give it back
- 4:00Speaker 1: to them and say, because you didn't win so much,
- 4:02Speaker 1: I didn't have too much.
- 4:03Speaker 2: You're a classic, and they're good, you're so funny.
- 4:06Speaker 1: I think that we should teach the four year old
- 4:08Speaker 1: in this family to do that. I'm not sure that's
- 4:10Speaker 1: going to get us where we need to go, but
- 4:12Speaker 1: by I emphasized, it's so important from a pro social
- 4:14Speaker 1: point of view. Kids learn cooperation through sharing, they learn
- 4:18Speaker 1: how to negotiate, they learn about fairness, and we all
- 4:21Speaker 1: know that kids fairness antenna are well, well, they're right
- 4:25Speaker 1: up all the time, right, they really notice what's fair
- 4:27Speaker 1: and what's not.
- 4:28Speaker 2: I know when we were struggling with some similar challenges
- 4:31Speaker 2: with our kids when they were younger, your mum would
- 4:34Speaker 2: talk about the fact that our kids were struggling with
- 4:37Speaker 2: a scarcity mentality there wasn't enough of anything, and helping
- 4:41Speaker 2: them to feel more abundant.
- 4:43Speaker 1: By buying three of everything. Just kidding, we didn't do that,
- 4:49Speaker 1: but helping them feel more abundant.
- 4:51Speaker 2: Would make a difference.
- 4:52Speaker 1: So that's I haven't told you where we're going or
- 4:54Speaker 1: where I'm going in this conversation, but that's kind of
- 4:58Speaker 1: I wasn't going to use my mum's words. Just don't
- 5:00Speaker 1: feel good where my mum comes out.
- 5:01Speaker 2: Of my larynx, but she came out of mind instead.
- 5:04Speaker 1: Yeah, from a psychological point of view, there is something
- 5:06Speaker 1: to that. But I'm going to explain how that works
- 5:08Speaker 1: and why. Because it's one thing to say they've got
- 5:10Speaker 1: a scarce of the mentality. They need an abundance mentality.
- 5:12Speaker 1: It's one thing to say that, but it's another thing
- 5:14Speaker 1: to actually operationalize it, to sit in the living room
- 5:17Speaker 1: with your kids and work out how they can have
- 5:20Speaker 1: that abundance mentality. A couple of things about sharing that
- 5:25Speaker 1: are important to know. When it comes to sharing, we
- 5:28Speaker 1: need to have this thing in our brain called theory
- 5:30Speaker 1: of mind. Theory of mind means that we have empathy perspective,
- 5:33Speaker 1: we can see the world through another person's point of view,
- 5:37Speaker 1: and that tends to develop somewhere around about five, although
- 5:39Speaker 1: recent research suggests that it could be a little bit later,
- 5:42Speaker 1: and if you've got kids who are on the spectrum,
- 5:44Speaker 1: then it maybe even later. Again, there's little interest in
- 5:47Speaker 1: perspective taking and empathy there. Secondly, siblings fight over scarce resources.
- 5:52Speaker 1: If you don't want the kids fighting over resources scarce resources,
- 5:57Speaker 1: don't have siblings. It's kind of how it is right
- 6:03Speaker 1: if you don't have siblings, they are going to have
- 6:04Speaker 1: any sibling fights, it's too late for most families. I guess,
- 6:09Speaker 1: like that's what siblings do. They fight over resources, particularly
- 6:13Speaker 1: scarce resources. It's all about survival of the fittest, which
- 6:16Speaker 1: means that the power dynamics are going to come in.
- 6:18Speaker 1: That's my third point. Power dynamics are huge and the
- 6:20Speaker 1: big kid will almost always be the one who's pushing.
- 6:24Speaker 1: So in this podcast, we're going to spend the next
- 6:26Speaker 1: five or six minutes and trying to give families whose
- 6:28Speaker 1: kids don't share a quick kickstart with three ideas, maybe
- 6:31Speaker 1: four ideas, four ideas that can be helpful. The first
- 6:37Speaker 1: of those ideas is teaching our kids' empathy and perspective taking. Now,
- 6:42Speaker 1: it sounds like this mum's having a go at that,
- 6:45Speaker 1: but not with the tremendous amount of success.
- 6:49Speaker 2: I'm wondering whether it's someone on one time with mum
- 6:51Speaker 2: or dad. Like special one on one time would be
- 6:55Speaker 2: helpful in being able to have those kinds of conversations.
- 7:00Speaker 1: Yeah, and the conversation generally would go something like this,
- 7:03Speaker 1: especially with younger kids. Hey, I've noticed lately that there's
- 7:07Speaker 1: been another big fight about sharing. How does it make
- 7:10Speaker 1: our family feel when we fight about this stuff. How
- 7:13Speaker 1: does it make your brother feel? How does it make
- 7:14Speaker 1: mum feel? How does it make dad feel? How does
- 7:16Speaker 1: it make whoever feel? How does it make you feel?
- 7:18Speaker 1: And so what we're doing is we're getting the kids
- 7:20Speaker 1: to take perspective, we're building empathy. That's precisely the way
- 7:24Speaker 1: that we do that. Now. The second idea is one
- 7:28Speaker 1: of your favorites, and that is that we have family meetings.
- 7:31Speaker 2: And this marries up beautifully with that one on one time.
- 7:34Speaker 2: You're able to have those conversations with your child in
- 7:38Speaker 2: a more intimate, private setting so they don't feel like
- 7:41Speaker 2: they're being attacked publicly. But then when you have those
- 7:44Speaker 2: family meetings and you come together as a family, you
- 7:47Speaker 2: actually get to talk about what's been going well in
- 7:49Speaker 2: the family, and everybody gets to have a say. Even
- 7:53Speaker 2: the four year old gets to say what he thinks
- 7:55Speaker 2: is great about about your family. It's a really powerful
- 7:59Speaker 2: way to build the family up.
- 8:00Speaker 1: But then you're to get everyone on the same page.
- 8:03Speaker 2: That's right, and then you're able to go into the
- 8:06Speaker 2: next part, which is what's not going well And we
- 8:08Speaker 2: can acknowledge that we've had a couple of fights this week,
- 8:11Speaker 2: and what have they been about sharing?
- 8:13Speaker 1: Sharing?
- 8:14Speaker 2: And how's it made us feel? And so you're marrying
- 8:17Speaker 2: up that private, intimate time together, that conversation into now
- 8:22Speaker 2: a more broader conversation as a whole family, and then
- 8:26Speaker 2: work on what you will focus on this week.
- 8:29Speaker 1: And the third question, what we're going to work on.
- 8:31Speaker 1: It's totally reasonable for you as a parent to say,
- 8:33Speaker 1: let's focus on sharing this week, and let's make a
- 8:36Speaker 1: plan what can we do next time there's a sharing
- 8:39Speaker 1: situation that doesn't look like it's going to go quite right.
- 8:41Speaker 2: Maybe, instead of around the dinner table where you might
- 8:44Speaker 2: talk about gratitude things, you might actually be able to say,
- 8:48Speaker 2: who's shared today?
- 8:49Speaker 1: Yeah, let's celebrate our sharing experiences.
- 8:51Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 8:51Speaker 1: So that's a really nice transition into the third thing
- 8:54Speaker 1: that I was going to share. I don't believe that
- 8:57Speaker 1: I said that, and that is that we need to
- 8:59Speaker 1: model sharing. We need to make a big deal out
- 9:01Speaker 1: of it. So when we have those dinner time conversations,
- 9:04Speaker 1: we all get to talk about, Hey, here's what I
- 9:06Speaker 1: did to share today, Here's how sharing made me feel.
- 9:09Speaker 1: We actually become a family who talks about sharing and
- 9:11Speaker 1: contribution and doing meaningful things to help others. The emphasis
- 9:16Speaker 1: on sharing becomes a shared experience. We're literally talking about
- 9:22Speaker 1: it and making a big deal. In fact, I would
- 9:24Speaker 1: even do this. So I've just found a new drink
- 9:26Speaker 1: that I really like. It's this soda water that's infused
- 9:29Speaker 1: with this stuff. I don't know what it is, but
- 9:31Speaker 1: I pay like two dollars fifty a can when I
- 9:33Speaker 1: buy it in bulk, and it's a little bit expensive
- 9:35Speaker 1: and a little bit fancy. But I buy a twelve
- 9:37Speaker 1: pack every now and again because I'm just so excited
- 9:39Speaker 1: to drink my fancy soda water and I like it,
- 9:41Speaker 1: and the kids ask for it, like they get so
- 9:43Speaker 1: excited because Dad's got a special drink and they want
- 9:45Speaker 1: to try it. Now. If I was dealing with an
- 9:47Speaker 1: eight year old who didn't like sharing, I would look
- 9:50Speaker 1: at them when they asked me, and I would say,
- 9:51Speaker 1: of course, because I love sharing. Sharing makes me feel good.
- 9:55Speaker 1: How does it make you feel when I share with you?
- 9:57Speaker 1: So I would turn every request from my children when
- 10:00Speaker 1: they're asking me to share with them into a gentle
- 10:03Speaker 1: and fun teaching experience. I wouldn't belabor it, wouldn't overdo it.
- 10:07Speaker 1: Wouldn't be lecturing the kids on sharing every time, but
- 10:11Speaker 1: modeling it and sharing it. I just think it's a
- 10:14Speaker 1: really nice way to have some fun with it and
- 10:15Speaker 1: bring the kids in and.
- 10:17Speaker 2: You know what, with Christmas just around the corner, I
- 10:19Speaker 2: think this is actually a really wonderful opportunity to do
- 10:22Speaker 2: some service as a family, to actually share the abundance
- 10:27Speaker 2: that you've been blessed with with other people and get
- 10:30Speaker 2: your children involved in it. I was actually on Facebook
- 10:33Speaker 2: the other day and a family tradition came up where
- 10:37Speaker 2: the children each fill a garbage bag full of clothes
- 10:42Speaker 2: that don't fit them anymore or toys that they no
- 10:46Speaker 2: longer need, and they put that under the Christmas tree,
- 10:49Speaker 2: and when Santa drops their gifts off, he takes that
- 10:52Speaker 2: sack so that he can refurbish them and renew them
- 10:56Speaker 2: for next year's Christmas. That's so nice and I really
- 10:59Speaker 2: liked I liked the framework around it. She obviously acknowledged
- 11:03Speaker 2: they go to the Selvo's and it makes room for
- 11:06Speaker 2: all the Christmas kills gifts that come. But I love
- 11:10Speaker 2: the idea because what it does for your children is
- 11:13Speaker 2: help them recognize that they can give to others as well,
- 11:19Speaker 2: and that might be something that might be useful.
- 11:21Speaker 1: I need to wrap this up with this idea that
- 11:23Speaker 1: you shared from my mum, this scarcity mentality versus this
- 11:27Speaker 1: abundance mentality. Ultimately, what we're talking about here is something
- 11:31Speaker 1: that is really hard for kids, and that is that
- 11:33Speaker 1: they need to learn to share. And it is hard
- 11:36Speaker 1: to learn to share. Now, I found a quote from
- 11:39Speaker 1: a child development researcher, a lady called Nancy Eisenberg. She's
- 11:43Speaker 1: been a leading researcher on kids and their social development
- 11:47Speaker 1: for decades now, and Eisenberg said this. She said, children
- 11:52Speaker 1: become more generous by having the experience of giving to
- 11:55Speaker 1: others and learning how good that feels. But there's a catch,
- 11:59Speaker 1: and it comes back to what I wrote about in
- 12:00Speaker 1: the Pairing Revolution. It comes back to these three basic
- 12:03Speaker 1: psychological needs. Specifically one and that is the need for autonomy. Now, remember,
- 12:07Speaker 1: every time your kids don't share and you get them
- 12:09Speaker 1: in trouble, you make them feel incompetent, which means that
- 12:11Speaker 1: they're even less inclined to share in future. But the
- 12:13Speaker 1: biggest issue is control. Control, control, control, control, control. That's
- 12:17Speaker 1: what the kids are choosing not to share because of
- 12:19Speaker 1: and when we step in and force them to share,
- 12:22Speaker 1: it makes it harder. So self determination around sharing is
- 12:25Speaker 1: actually what I want to encourage, which is really hard
- 12:28Speaker 1: to hear when you've got a kids there's not sharing
- 12:30Speaker 1: because it seems like they're never going to share. What
- 12:33Speaker 1: we're talking about, though, this idea of self regulation or
- 12:37Speaker 1: self determination with sharing is really what you might call
- 12:42Speaker 1: letting your kids have a long turn. But this works
- 12:46Speaker 1: in two ways. It works for your child who isn't sharing.
- 12:49Speaker 1: It also works for the child who wants something that
- 12:51Speaker 1: they can't have. So let's break this down. If we
- 12:56Speaker 1: just take away autonomy and we take the toy away
- 13:00Speaker 1: and give it to the sibling the second child, the
- 13:03Speaker 1: little kid learns that if they cry loud enough, you
- 13:06Speaker 1: know what happens. I get what I want. They also
- 13:10Speaker 1: learn that the parents are in charge, and parents can
- 13:14Speaker 1: be kind of arbitrary, ride like, parents aren't always consistent,
- 13:18Speaker 1: and so they learn.
- 13:19Speaker 2: Well and we don't always know the full story either.
- 13:21Speaker 1: Right, which becomes such a challenge. Well, this also re
- 13:27Speaker 1: emphasizes in our children's mind the reality that this is
- 13:30Speaker 1: a competition over resources and parents are going to be
- 13:34Speaker 1: that arbiter. There's also the risk that they might lose
- 13:37Speaker 1: it because parents can take it away from them just
- 13:39Speaker 1: as easily as they gave it to them. So it
- 13:41Speaker 1: just doesn't really work. The kids feel like the clock's ticking.
- 13:45Speaker 1: They feel like they've got this toy. They can't have
- 13:46Speaker 1: it for long. They have to play with it as
- 13:48Speaker 1: much as they can. Then they have to protest as
- 13:49Speaker 1: soon as it's going to be taken away, like it
- 13:51Speaker 1: just makes the family feel awful. But if we let
- 13:54Speaker 1: the kids have long terms, if we let them believe, hey,
- 13:57Speaker 1: you know what, this is a toy that we share,
- 13:59Speaker 1: but right now you're playing with it and you can
- 14:00Speaker 1: have as long a term with it as you want.
- 14:03Speaker 1: Have you ever noticed what happens with kids when they're
- 14:04Speaker 1: given a long turn.
- 14:06Speaker 2: They get bored, Like they stop playing with it.
- 14:09Speaker 1: I don't need this anymore. There's no competition for the resource,
- 14:12Speaker 1: there's no need for it. There's so much power when
- 14:14Speaker 1: we say, hey, you know what, you decide you play
- 14:16Speaker 1: with it until you're done. Once you're done, then we'll
- 14:19Speaker 1: share it with your little brother and that's just fine.
- 14:22Speaker 1: And then like there's so much power in this. First
- 14:25Speaker 1: of all, the little brother learns that's looking about things,
- 14:28Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily change things, and so it's going to take
- 14:31Speaker 1: a little while, but pretty soon a little brother is
- 14:34Speaker 1: going to go, oh, well, my sister's playing with it.
- 14:35Speaker 1: I guess I can either play with it with her
- 14:38Speaker 1: or I can go find something else to play with.
- 14:40Speaker 1: But the big kid learns. The child who doesn't want
- 14:45Speaker 1: to share is learning really really quickly that I've got enough.
- 14:50Speaker 1: I have enough, and once I've had enough with what
- 14:53Speaker 1: I have, that is enough, other people can have a
- 14:55Speaker 1: turn with that and it's not going to affect me like.
- 14:57Speaker 1: It's just so much better when we size autonomy when
- 15:01Speaker 1: it comes to kids and sharing.
- 15:04Speaker 2: Another great tactic, especially for a four year old, is distraction. Oh,
- 15:08Speaker 2: you like the perfect age to be distracted by something
- 15:12Speaker 2: else bright and shiny. So yes, they're always going to
- 15:16Speaker 2: want what their sibling has, but we can offer them
- 15:20Speaker 2: other options that will be just as exciting if we
- 15:23Speaker 2: can kind of distract them in the process.
- 15:26Speaker 1: We really hope that sharing these ideas is going to
- 15:30Speaker 1: help with the sharing that happens in your home. Sharing
- 15:33Speaker 1: ideas is so much easier than sharing your favorite chocolate, though,
- 15:37Speaker 1: isn't it? Missus happy families?
- 15:39Speaker 2: I haven't had any I'm just letting you.
- 15:41Speaker 1: Know we are on a little bit of a health kick.
- 15:43Speaker 1: It's going okay. Although I did notice that the tim
- 15:45Speaker 1: tams were open. Let's not go there right now. The
- 15:48Speaker 1: Happy Family's podcast is produced by Justin Rulan for Bridge Media.
- 15:50Speaker 1: Craig Bruce is our executive producer. For more information about
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