Sharing is the magic word

I'll let you into a secret. A happy secret to living my life stress-free these past few weeks. Almost stress-free, that is.

For quite sometime, I've been having this problem with Matt during kiddo's Vitamins Time. No, it's not a case of him not-wanting to drink his vitamins. Because the truth is, I've never really had a problem of that kind. Yes, I definitely have no trouble giving him vitamins from the very start. From what I can see, buddy Matt here thinks that vitamins are some kind of a treat.


The only, only problem is his persistence to hold the brown breakable bottles. I mean, after he's done gulping these tasty liquids, he would then demand to hold their bottles. He really likes having them in his hands, examining and playing with them. But then kids are sometimes like that (and I do marvel at the greater joy the littlest and simplest thing could bring to a child).


But I've been trying to deal with that every single day. From explaining that he might drop and break them and then he might get hurt, to telling the tale of them getting stale when not returned to the fridge, I've always been trying to make him see the sense behind my refusal to hand him these. Everyday, I've been looking for a better way to drive home the point. Even pointing the fact that he broke one brown bottle of a manzanilla already. But what did I get, the same stubborn persistence. I do understand that, of course, kids are sometimes also like that. And when I find myself giving in to his childish demands, I'd be looking for hassle-free ways to get the bottles back because he'd make so much fuss sometimes.


Finally, I stumbled upon the marvelous solution that guarantees solving the tug o' wars I have with my son. Goodbye, goodbye trouble. No more crying now.

Hello, hello, everlasting peace.

The solution is... And I'm sharing it because incidentally the solution to all this trouble is "sharing." The magic word is sharing.


"Matt, I've gotta have the vitamins back because I'm sharing some to your friend Leelard," I told him one day. I tried it because I had a sneaking suspicion that that might just do the trick. And it did- still does.


And as I write this, I revel in the awesome fact that even a stubborn 1 yo kid could yield and give up something all in the wonderful idea of sharing. I mean, for us adults, sharing could come easily and quite naturally, even instinctively at times. But for very very young minds, it could be another thing.


P.S.1. Friend Leelard is rubber lizard I bought for Matt months back.
P.S.2. When Kiddo Matt, stays too long in his bath, I also say "done now because we're sharing the water with Leelard or Tita or..." Thankfully, I get the same positive result.