Share meal toys
You have to start from young. When we used to go to McDonald's, we used to get the Happy Meals which come with a toy. I would ask for different toys and they would get to share them. If they didn't share, I would take the toy away. But I find in life it's not just things that your children must learn to share. Now, they also share in the housework. I make them responsible for certain things so everybody has a duty. If they don't want to do the chores like wash their own shoes, then they have to wear dirty shoes back to school. There is a penalty but normally I try to encourage them or I will remind them. Sometimes it's not that they don't want to do but they forget because it's not their normal routine so we have to keep reminding them. - Mrs Wong, mother of two girls aged 9 and 12
Take turns
Sharing is a dirty word for them. The best we can, we give each their own. No need to fight and less headache for us. But when we eat out, we will only order one glass of drink for the three and they have to take turns to sip. They don't like it, but they obey. However, they will still fight, claiming one took a bigger sip than the other. - Loong Meng Yee, mother of one boy and two girls aged 6 to 11
Learning process
A combination of threat and persuasion! Kheera shares her toys with her cousins when they swing around for visits and they return the favour when we visit them. So, when she gets upset with the treatment of her toys, we remind her that she is no different. It's a slow learning process but she is being exposed a lot more to kids of the same age - she is is nearing three-and-a-half years – now that she's just been enrolled into kindergarten this month. We send her off to the kindergarten with breakfast and ask whether she has been sharing it with her friends and the answer always seems to be "Yes." Kheera is not exactly a compulsive eater so it is either the truth is being told or her friends are helping her clean up the tupperware, with our daughter playing the genial hostess. - Nantha Kumar, father of one girl aged 3+ and one 11-month-old boy