Question
Hi again,
I have another question about our children, this time about our 6 year old girl. She seems to have come into the world well-equipped with a particularly strong selfish streak. I know that all young kids are fairly egocentric and inherently self-centered, she just seems to have an extra dose. (Fortunately this doesn't seem to come out at school or with friends but it comes out at home all the time.) She always wants to get out of the car first, walk through the door first, if her sister gets a new toy, the oldest will take it and keep it in her room. When I asked her why, she will say that because she really wants it. These are just a few examples of many.
So my husband and I are trying to come up with a solution to help her develop the attributes of generosity and of thinking of others needs as well as her own. We thought of giving her 5 tickets and when she does something selfish she loses a ticket. When she does something non-selfish, she can earn a ticket back. If she gets 10 days where she still has 5 tickets at the end of the day, she gets to go out for ice cream with one of us. (We already do the ticket system with her for disobedience and its worked great. She can't earn back tickets on this system.) But I don't know about our idea. It seems a little complicated to me...
What are your thoughts? Do you have any other way of helping children develop good character traits? Or of curbing excessive selfishness?
Thanks so much as always!
