Here’s what Dr. Ann Corwin, The Parenting Doctor, has to say about Sharing:

WHY IS SHARING SO TOUGH?

Basically because a child’s job in the first two or three years of life is to figure out who they are and they do this by identifying what they own. And I mean this job is very serious stuff, like they feel as though they won’t get a paycheck or bonus if they don’t claim everything they see as MINE!

Remember to give your child something that is theirs and no one else gets to touch it. If they cannot manage to share, then remove them, but allow them to play with the toy that is exclusively theirs. We are not isolationists by nature, so kids might play for awhile with one thing but then shortly they want to go and play with others and other toys.

If two kids are in conflict over a toy and it is common property, then don’t say, “You had it first and then look at the other child and tell them they can have a toy after a certain amount of time, like 5 minutes”.

The reason this is not such a hot idea is that first of all these kids cannot tell time, so have no clue when they will get to play with the toy in question.

Secondly, if a toy is common property then everyone gets to touch it.
You know this happens all the time, so just grab the toy from both kids and say, “bye-bye toy”. Both kids will be disappointed, sad or mad as they watch you put the toy away. But, what they will learn is, if everyone doesn’t get to touch it, no one gets it.

Not sharing has nothing to do with being strong-willed or selfish or mean. It has everything to do with a child figuring who they are, so whenever your child does share, say, “great sharing” instead of telling them to share when they are not!