A child "steals" her son's toy at the playground and the mother justifies this: "You have to teach him to share"

by Mark Bennett

July 23, 2022

A child "steals" her son's toy at the playground and the mother justifies this: "You have to teach him to share"
Advertisement

Teaching your children the value of sharing is very important, but it is equally important to remind them to respect certain limits, such as the difference between "sharing" and "stealing". A child, in fact, should learn to let go of things which are "his of hers" spontaneously, and not under the direction of a parent or another child. A young mother started a very heated debate on the subject, describing how her son Elliott could no longer find his favorite toy truck while at the playground: some other child had seen the truck unattended and had seen fit to take it. As you can imagine, the argument that ensued with the kid's mother was far from pleasant.

via c.maxxy/Tik Tok

Advertisement
 c.maxxy/Tik Tok

c.maxxy/Tik Tok

Carrie had taken her son to the playground and, of course, the little boy had brought his favorite toy with him - a plastic pickup truck. Much of the time he spent in the park was spent just pushing the truck along the ground, thinking up fantastic adventures and imaginary worlds. When he expressed a wish to have a go on the swings, his mother accompanied him, leaving the "precious" toy on a bench, next to her coat. After experiencing the thrill of the swing, the mom asked Elliott what else he wanted to do before going home and the boy replied that he would like to play for another 5 minutes with his pickup truck. It was too bad, then, that the toy had disappeared from the bench it was sitting on. Carrie looked around realized that another child was playing with her son's pickup truck:

"I looked for the mom, but I didn't see any parent near the kid. So, along with my son, I walked up to him and said, 'Hey man, that's Elliott's truck, can you we get it back?' He gave me a dirty look and said no because he was playing with it. I then asked him where his mother was and he pointed her out to me, so I went to talk to her. "

Advertisement
 c.maxxy/Tik Tok

c.maxxy/Tik Tok

The child's mother, however, did not seem very willing to discuss the matter: according to her, her son was allowed to play with the truck, even if it did not belong to him. According to the woman, the toy was left unattended and therefore her son had every right to take it. When Carrie tried to counter the woman's absurd argument, the woman told her she needed to teach her son to share things. In a video posted on TikTok, the young mother clearly stated her opinion about the matter: "Sharing is not always fair and I don't want to teach my child that he has to give up things simply because he has been asked to 'share'". After this conflict at the playground, Carrie got the truck back and asked web users what their opinion about the incident was.

Most said they were on Carrie's side and, above all, everyone agreed on one point in particular: before taking anything you should certainly ask for permission.

Advertisement