It is so common for children in the 2-3yrs old age band to be selfish, territorial and uncooperative.

Asking them to share their toys will usually draw "undesirable" reactions ranging from sulking faces to absolute defiance.

But parents can take comfort in that only about half of 3 year olds CAN share, and even so, they tend to do it only briefly. You see, learning to share is a totally new concept to a growing toddler.

Maureen Hickey in her article "How To Encourage Children To Become Sharing People " suggested that children need to learn the concept of ownership before they could understand the concept of sharing. And pre-schoolers are not mentally developed yet to fully grasp the idea of sharing.

So don’t feel compelled to push your child to share if you next see him hoarding his toys. He or she may not be ready yet, and it is something beyond his control.

In the meantime, you may want to begin introducing them to this Veggie Tales story that centres on Sharing.