Sharebabe

I once read from Covey’s book The 7 Habits for Families that children 3 years old and below do not have the concept of sharing yet and that it’s unrealistic to expect them to manifest this in their behavior. He mentioned this in relation to the story that he shared about his daughter who was then a toddler and who didn’t want to share her toys with their guests who were kids also. He said that this attitude is due to their me-centered stage which they will eventually outgrow, although there are people who do not outgrow their self-centeredness. Anyway, outgrowing this is one of the signs of maturity.

One Sunday, while we were waiting for the Holy Mass to start, our son was walking around holding a cupcake in his hand. My husband and I were watching him from where we were seated. We were amused and delighted when we saw him stop at one of the pews where a little girl was seated with her parents and our son handed her the cupcake in his hand. We did not expect him to do that but we were pleasantly surprised.

On another occasion, Yanthy showed us again that he’s a very giving baby and that he already understands the concept of sharing. We were feeding him his favorite snack – Party Animals biscuits. I have just handed him another piece. He placed it in his mouth and took a bite. Then he offered the remaining biscuit to me. I said thank you and ate his biscuit. He did this again the other day when I was giving him his morning snack. That’s when I remembered what I read from The 7 Habits for Families book.

I felt grateful that as early as now, my son has exhibited the attitude of sharing. I am very happy that in his young age, he manifests a giving attitude. Yanthy does not only share his food. He also shares his toys. We’ve tried it a number of times in the past together with other adult relatives. We ask him if we could borrow his toys for a while and he would gladly share it with us.

I pray that our son would continue to grow to have a generous heart and that he would carry this wonderful attitude with him when he grows up.