Out-of-the-box solutions

Tonight we taught Julian and Tennyson about sharing for Family Home Evening. We used an activity to help teach Julian. I sat at one end of the room with a box of chocolate covered almonds, and Sam sat at the other. Sam would receive almonds only through Julian’s sharing. Further, we were going to give Julian enough almonds to realize that sharing did not require giving everything. Often, sharing is simply giving part of your excess.  

I gave the first almond to Julian with the instruction to share with Mommy; he stuck it in his mouth. I gave him another almond. Julian didn’t immediately eat this one. He thought to enjoy the chocolate in his mouth and save the second for later. We then encouraged him to share with Mommy and pointed out that with one almond in his mouth, he could easily part with the second. Julian realized that he needed to do something with the almond. He couldn’t save it. And he didn’t want to lose it through sharing. Employing flawless two-year-old logic, Julian shoved the second almond in his mouth. He now worked his little mouth to chew two.

I gave Julian a third almond and encouraged him to share it with Mommy. Between smiling, giggling, and two chocolate covered almonds, he couldn’t save the third almond by shoving it into his mouth. While he paused to think about his situation, we again encouraged him to share. Julian then briskly walked over to Sam. We enjoyed a moment of parental triumph and interpreted Julian’s behavior as a sign that our activity was beginning to work. Julian bent slightly over Sam’s outstretched hand; spit two slimy, naked almonds into her hand; and ate the third.

After laughing about Julian’s solution to his problem, we decided not to put our sharing activity through any more shame. I shared with Sam.  

Attached are some of last week’s pictures of the boys.