This is Blog #4 about sharing. Sharing is one of the first social skills that children learn. Both songs and books can promote learning to share. Just like a coin, sharing has two sides. Children need to learn how to share with others and they need to learn how to ask others to share with them. Parents and caregivers can provide this support by encouraging children to use the words please and thank you, as a start. As before, there are some fun stories about using the magic words or you can just make up a story. Here’s a quick sample. The scene is the kitchen table and the fork and spoon are talking:
Hello, Spoon. Why hello, Fork.
Spoon, please pass me the knife. I see that you have the knife right beside you on that side of the plate. I would like to share the knife with you so I could cut this piece of bread.
Why, certainly, Fork. I liked how you remembered to say please. You didn’t reach over and just grab the knife, you asked in a very mannerly voice. Why, thank you, Spoon. That’s very kind. It’s been a slice talking to you.
I know that it’s quite likely that other adults in the room will question your sanity when you become the voices of Fork and Spoon, or Shoe and Sock, or Toy Car and Toy Block, and have a conversation but children are not so critical. Better than lecturing or nagging, children see and hear the lesson and engage the power of their imaginations to remember the social message.
“Computers, I would like to ask you to please share this message with others and could you ask them to send in their comments and suggestions, too? Thank you for your help.”