Wednesday, August 29, 2007

WFMW-Dividing Toys Among Children



Children advice from a non-parent may sound strange, but we do have kids over sometimes and I have found out something shocking. Prepare yourselves.


Children think that everything has to be fair!

"She got more than me." "He got a bigger piece." "That one is prettier than mine."

I'm sure you parents have never heard these things at your house, but when hubby and I have kids over, we hear it occasionally. This is how we solve it:
For example, I bought a multi-pack of gum. Various flavors=danger zone. We have 4 kids at the house. I tell them, "I'm going to open the gum and set them out on the table. You have 30 seconds to decide who gets what." They know they have 30 seconds for everyone to be happy (as possible) or I'll pick them back up and we'll pick a number between 1 and 25. Whoever gets closest gets first pick, whoever is 2nd closest gets 2nd pick, etc. This way, they have the opportunity to work it out between them, but if it's not possible, a fair solution is right behind them. And, no one gets to really be unhappy because at the end of it, they are all getting a pack of gum.
I've used this before if I happened across a sale of cute pencils or something along those lines where they are all equal, but look different.
This works for us!
Head over to Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer to see a lot of other helpful tips!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Things can't always be fair- that is so true! Sometimes someone is going to get something you want but you can easily make do with something just as good. My kids have finally figured that out. Not that it has stopped the protests but I do the pick a number thing or the pick a hand thing or something like that. Keeps them from thinking I chose one kid over another.