Old Class Question

I am a home day care provider and mother of a 16-month-old boy. The problem I am having is that he refuses to share any toys with the other children. As soon as a child picks up a toy, he screams and takes it away from them. As soon as they move on to another toy, he does the same thing. I have tried everything from giving him the extra attention he needs to telling him the importance of sharing. I realize that he is too young to really understand this concept, but I want this daycare situation to work out so that I can continue to raise my son and earn money at the same time. Please offer any suggestions you may have. Thank you!!

This is a tough one. I tried the same thing with two little ones and found that they had a very difficult time sharing not only the toys, but their mom. We have a wonderful story in our book “Positive Discipline for Single Parents” about how a single mom was able to continue her day care because she learned to get her four year-old involved in solving the problems. He decided which toys he wouldn’t share, and put them away. He also earned $1 a day by helping his mom “take care” of the kids.