"Mine!"

My 2 year old still hasn't learned the word "mine" but just recently learned the word "no". It's such a frustrating stage.

Good luck.

I would love to know the responses to this question as well. My little one is only 15 months and she has already begun with 'mine' in her vocabulary.

It is a tough time isn't it?? Sometimes I get embarrased at the park when my 2 year old screams at other kids that the slide is "MINE" But, then I see other kids doing it too and I know that all parents understand this developmental phase. We believe in talking to our daughter like she is a human being, they really understand quite a lot. I believe they are really testing their boundaries. We simply explain to our DD that sharing makes everyone happy, we take turns and taking toys away from someone else is naughty. this works for us really well, but our DD works well with negotiation. In the rare instance that she throws a temper tantrum over a toy, I let her cry it out and tell her, I understand how upsetting it is when we don't get what we want. The crying usually doesn't last long. 19 months is pretty young, she must be advanced! So I wouldn't hesitate to talk to her like she understands. good luck! This is such a fun age but also challenging.LOL

The "mine" stage is something every child goes through, your daughter did not learn this from another child, it's just that both kids are in the same stage at the same time. You just have to keep telling her to share the toys. If needed when she takes a toy away from another child and says "mine", you need to take and back and give it to the other child and tell her to share. She'll then take another toy. Just be consistant this stage doesn't last too long.

This is a normal stage (even though every parent hates it) Both of my daughters went through or are going through it. I emphasize sharing. It is nice to share. We share. They don't need to know who owns what, just share. Simple is best at this age. Good luck

Both my girls realized very quickly that MINE hurts people's feelings. They would take toys away and I would pretend cry. Since mom was sad they would come up to me and give me the toy back and then I wasn't"sad" anymore. I told them "When you take things away, you might make people cry. You need to share." They did it again and I would take the toy back and say "No, you need to share or you will make me sad." It seemed to work :) Hope that helps! Good luck.

She'll learn to share. She's still young. Things to do to put her on the right track are to teach her to take turns. When the two of you are playing, try taking turns with something and make sure her turn is longer than yours (19 month olds are not patient). Also try trading with her. When she wants a toy someone else has try to get her to make a trade for it instead of pulling it out of the other's hand.

-Jo

My son has a T-Shirt that reads

Toddler Rules Of Mine

1. If I have it in my hand it's mine.
2. If I had it a while ago it's mine.
3. If I like it it's mine.
and the list goes on....

It is a stage, she isn't being selfish...

I would hesitate to "blame" any one for her new selfish type behavior and I would also worry if she wasn't going through a stage like that. All toddlers coming up on their second birthday are going to naturally go through a selfish stage. They are just learning about the world around them and need to learn that, in fact, a lot of things aren't "mine". Using language like "this is ours", "this belongs to _____, not you", "we can share this" etc is going to teach her those things. But be patient, its probably going to take A LOT of reinforcement before she actually gets it. I have 3 toddlers now (almost 3 and twin almost 2 yr olds) and believe me the word "mine" is used excruciatingly often. It is frustrating and annoying when kids don't instinctively know how to share but I've seen a lot of adults who have trouble with the same concept so its no wonder a 2 yr olds brain has trouble. It just takes patience, reinforcement and time. Knowing it is absolutely normal helps. A lot of parenting websites will have tons and tons of articles about how to instill generosity in toddlers. Try parenting.com or parentsoup.com. Your local ecfe could also have some good book suggestions for dealing with selfish behaviour.
K. H

She may be observing it from another child at day care, but she is learning it from the wide world around her. Toddlers are in a constant state of learning that they are actually their own person, not an attachment to their parents. She is asserting her independence and showing the world that she can say what she wants! While it is frustrating (every parent cringes at that lovely word "MINE")it is actually developmentally appropriate and a very important stage of learning. Soon enough, she'll learn that when she takes toys from others, it hurts their feelings. She'll be able to understand that she doesn't like it when toys are taken from her, and she'll equate that with what she is doing to her friends. Then she'll outgrow it. For now, there's not much you can do but be patient.