Toy-stealing, argh!

I know 13 months is too early for them to really understand sharing or taking turns -- but it's starting to be a drag. Any toy that Sarah has, Amy wants -- so she grabs it, Sarah cries, I take it from Amy and give it back to Sarah, then Amy cries, Sarah is still mad, then she drops the first toy and gets interested in something else, which Amy then has to have -- repeat to infinity. (Occasionally it goes the other way around, but not usually.) Should I just expect another few years of this, or does it peak at some point and then start to improve?

 

I know 13 months is too early for them to really understand sharing or taking turns -- but it's starting to be a drag. Any toy that Sarah has, Amy wants -- so she grabs it, Sarah cries, I take it from Amy and give it back to Sarah, then Amy cries, Sarah is still mad, then she drops the first toy and gets interested in something else, which Amy then has to have -- repeat to infinity. (Occasionally it goes the other way around, but not usually.) Should I just expect another few years of this, or does it peak at some point and then start to improve?

 

I couldn't have written that post word for word, it is the exact same thing in my house and our girls are basically the same age.

Maybe someone has suggestions or at least an idea of how long it will last until they understand sharing better.

 

It has eased up some here, so it does get better! I found that taking the toy away from Bea (she is 99% the toy thief) made things worse. What I do/did is ignore it if Ainsley isn't all that upset. If she is upset, I tell Bea to give the toy back to Ainsley or to me. She first understood the direction "give it to me" so we did that first, and I would then give the toy to Ainsley. Then I tried "give it to Ainsley" and she really does understand now and will give it back most of the time. Sometimes I can't settle the dispute or they both went to a toy at the same time. In that case, the toy goes in "time out" until they calm down.

 

Hey My girls are almost 15 months, and Mackenzie does the same thing to Emily all the time. Mackenzie also gets frustrated and bites her sister. I'm not sure when it stops, but it is out of control. At times, I do see them actually bringing a toy to each other now, so maybe it will get better soon!!!!

 

Same thing here. Frustrating, isn't it? I keep working with them, and hope that it will take soon, but who knows.

 

Minette and kstar, our kids must all be the same age, and i also couldn't have written it any better....ellie has to have EVERYTHING, especially whatever alexa is playing with at any given moment, and alexa is my content one...i have to add that on top of that, Alexa loves to share and ellie loves to take, BUT when alexa shares with ellie, she also wants it back right away which adds to the frustration of it. I think we have to just wait it out and work on teaching them to share...but i feel your pain, truly!!!

 

It does get better honestly!

amanda (jorja and jessica 3)

 

Well, my girls are 2 years and almost 4 months old, and they still do that very same thing ALL the time! It drives me insane! I sometimes just take the toy completely and tell them each to find something new to play with and that just makes one, or both of them mad. i don't know a solution for that one, but if there is someone out there who does, PLEASE post it!