Science is claiming that children's reluctance to share at times isn't such a bad thing.
According to one study, the key is to let kiddos explore the concept of sharing in their own time, and not to force it on them.
Apparently, sharing makes children happy, but being forced to share does not.
Writing in Frontiers in Psychology, Dr. Zhen Wu studied the emotional rewards of sharing in a group of 60 children, aged three to five.
The kids were divided into two groups: one where sharing stickers was voluntary, and they other where they were forced to share them.
The little ones' facial expressions of satisfaction were then measured, and the results were obvious.
"So, it seems that the motivation to give does count, and it also suggests that it is unrealistic to expect a very young child to share under pressure and be happy about it!" explained Dr Wu.
The researchers claim the experiment "enriches our understanding of the relation between generosity and happiness, and deepens knowledge about social behaviours being motivated by different things".
Apparently, there are limitations to the findings, and they lie in potentially unseen social pressures the kids may have been experiencing when voluntarily sharing the stickers.
"We need to examine how an act of generosity leads to happiness that, in turn, prompts another act of giving."
