Why Learning to Share is an Essential Skill for Kids: Sharing is Caring?

Sharing is considered one of the most important things children learn. This is the simplest way of being nice, having friends, and having good relationships. We usually hear the term "sharing is caring." But what does this mean? Why should sharing be taught to kids? In this blog, we'll be learning why sharing is caring and why it's an important attribute to hold.

What is Sharing?

Before understanding why sharing is caring, one needs to know what sharing means. Sharing implies allowing another person to use your belongings for a while. Alternatively, it includes giving parts of something to a person. This thing may include letting your friend play with your toys, giving half the sandwich to somebody, or letting your sister watch with you.

It is putting oneself in other people's shoes and seeing that everybody gets a turn or a share of something. And in doing so, while we learn what sharing is, we also learn that it is not just things; it can be sharing time, ideas, and experiences.

Why Sharing is Caring?

The saying goes that sharing is caring for something. It simply means that by sharing with others, one shows that he or she cares. At the same time, it depicts that through sharing, one is not only being nice but making people around him or her feel good. Sharing a toy to play or playing together in the playground allows building up friendships and helps create a sense of togetherness. Sharing is sharing because it shows that you are considerate or responsive to somebody else, and you want to delight people.

Value of Sharing

As we all know now what sharing is, let's talk about the value of sharing. Well, the value of sharing is not just limited to being kind; it enables very important life lessons kids will be using while growing.

It instils trust in each other, and when you share, he knows you trust him, and vice versa. Trust is a huge component of friendships and families alike, and sharing allows that trust to build.

It teaches teamwork-sharing teaches kids many ways of working together: When you share a game or even a project you are working on, you learn how to cooperate with others toward a common goal.

It allows fairness to be implemented: Sharing is all about being fair. Everybody gets a turn or a share, and nobody gets left out. Understanding sharing helps one learn that life is great when everybody gets an opportunity to share in something.

It Teaches Responsibility: When you share your things, you also learn how to take care of them. The feeling of responsibility may help you become a more considerate and thoughtful person.

Importance of Sharing

Sharing is one virtue that cannot be taken for granted. It is among the initial social skills learned by children, and it helps in gaining and maintaining friends. Why? Well, here are some reasons why sharing is such an important issue for kids:

Social-Emotional Learning: Making Friends-Sharing allows others to see that you are kind and fun to be with. This way, making friends could be easier because kids like being with people who give out stuff freely.

Solitude of Problems-Sharing helps solve problems. To that respect, when two people want to play with the same toy, they should either take turns or share it so everyone stays happy and doesn't fight.

Empathy building: Sharing helps to understand how others will feel. When you share that thing that makes you happy, you also get to see the other's happiness; it helps to be more understanding and caring.

Improvement in Environment: The sharing quality is further supported by how it improves the environment. When all share, there is no conflict or more harmony; hence, this makes school, home, and playtime more appealing.

Benefits of Sharing

Many benefits of sharing make sharing an essential commodity for kids. Here are some of the top benefits of sharing:

It makes you feel good: One of the best benefits of sharing is the amount of happiness that comes with it. Each time you share something with anybody, you feel proud of yourself that you have done a good thing. This feeling of joy may further make your day go well.

It Cements Good Relations: Sharing among friends, brothers, sisters, or classmates cements good relationships among them. Relations based on mutual trust and goodness are longer and deeper.

It Teaches Patience: Sharing most of the time involves waiting for your turn. This helps you to get patience. Patience is one of the biggest teachings one gets in life. Patience shows respect for others and instills in a person the belief that everyone deserves a chance.

It is good for social skills: there are more important reasons for sharing than just being nice. Sharing would mean practicing how to communicate, cooperate, and solve problems.

It builds a community: a feeling of togetherness is created when there is sharing. When everyone shares, it builds a community in which people look out for others, help them, and make sure that everyone is included.

How to Encourage Sharing?

It is at times very difficult to share, especially if one likes something a lot or just does not want to wait for his or her turn. However, there are several ways through which sharing can be made easier and more fun. A few tips through which sharing can be made easy and fun to make kids learn how to share are given below:

Setting a Good Example: Children will see an adult sharing and in turn, will share themselves. The parents, teachers, and siblings can share with someone around the child and let him know that it is true that sharing is caring.

Practice Taking Turns: Practice taking turns if you are playing with friends or siblings. If it is a toy, game, or even snack, each has a turn so one person does not get all of it.

Talk About Feelings: If you find it hard to share, talk about how it makes you feel. Sometimes that may be all it takes to find out why you don't want to share and to make them comfortable doing it.

Praise Sharing: When you catch someone sharing, praise them for their kindness. Kids will learn from positive reinforcement how great sharing is and why it is so imperative.

Sharing Time: This is another example of sharing by spending time with a sad or lonely person. This shall be considered as spending because you value them and want to see them happy.

Sharing Ideas: Ideas concerning your school group projects or discussions during brainstorming are also other forms of sharing. This helps make everybody grow and learn from each other.

Why does sharing sometimes feel hard?

We all know that sharing is caring, but it never seems very easy. Sometimes we may like a particular thing so much that we do not want to give it away, not even for a little while. At times this might be quite normal, but always remember that sharing helps us make friends and get along with people.

Reasons why sharing may be difficult and ways to overcome them:

Fear of Loss: Sometimes children are afraid that if they share a toy, they will not get it back. Setting clear rules about sharing can help overcome this. For instance, "You may have my toy for five minutes and then it is my turn.".

You feel attached: when you show love for something, and letting someone else use it causes inhibition. But you know, sharing does not mean giving it away forever; you will get it back, and in the way, you are making someone else's time.

Not Understanding It: In some instances, a child may not be in a position to understand what sharing means. This should then be followed by explaining how sharing would make them feel and how it is done to make them have other friends.

How to Make Sharing a Habit?

A way to practice kindness each day is by sharing. Following are a few ways you can make sharing a part of everyday life.

Start small: You do not need to tell him all at once. Let him begin with the small ones like a toy, a snack, or a place in a queue.

Taking turns: While playing and also in other games try sharing turns. This way, it will be a habit during your playtime.

Try to find some situations around you where you can share. Starting from helping your classmate do her homework to giving up one's seat for someone, find these opportunities and try to share.

Conclusion

Sharing is caring; after all, is not just an utterance but it's a way of life. Among the reasons to share are politeness, making and continuing friendships, and creating an ideal setting. Kids can be made to comprehend what sharing is, what the value of sharing can be, and the many benefits of sharing to make life better for all.

Sharing is, after all, an art that allows others to teach responsibility and promote equity; both in their ways helping to build up trust and empathy in our lives. We share in our attempt to let everyone have a place in this world that cares.

So next time you have a toy, a snack, or even an entertaining idea, remember how you can share it with someone else. Because sharing is caring, and it is one of the biggest things you'll ever learn

FAQs

Why is it important for children to learn to share?

Children need to learn to share so they can make and keep friends, play cooperatively, take turns, negotiate, and cope with disappointment. Sharing teaches children about compromise and fairness. They learn that if we give a little to others, we can get some of what we want too.

Why should we learn to share our things?

It can build a community and learning culture

The thing about culture and community is that they're built by everyday actions. We don't decide what they are and tell everyone, they grow from our collective behavior. And that's why the habit of knowledge sharing can help us build both.

What age do children learn to share?

around 3.5 to 4 years

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)  tells us that children who are younger than 3 cannot understand the idea of sharing. Child development specialists explain that sharing skills usually do not appear until around 3.5 to 4 years of age.

We hope you liked the above article. Please do not forget to share this blog with your friends and community members to spread awareness of "Sharing is Caring”!

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