Things Shared Which Grow and Things Shared Which Diminish

by Bessie M. Network Marketer

My grandson has been asking over and over whenever he hears me or his parents give a compliment to another person, especially his sister or cousins, “What about me?”

His parents and I have just looked at each other wondering why he is always asking that question. Well, it came to me. He knows that when he shares something, cookies, a piece of cake, or anything, his share is going to be smaller. No one wants a smaller share. Especially children don’t want to have less. They want all the cookies they had on their plate before that other intruder came along.

They learn that if there is only enough milk for one glass and a visiting child comes along, that one glass is going to be shared, split two ways and both will have ‘less’ than a whole glass of milk.

Children only see the physical. There are some adults who only see that too. They grew up feeling like sharing means having less. Sharing attention means getting less. Sharing a parent’s love means getting less of their love. That is how children see it.

This morning while speaking with my daughter, I brought up the subject and we decided to impress upon my grandson the difference in sharing material things and sharing love. And ad a byproduct of love/respect—compliments.

The ability to love grows. Children don’t put that together in their minds until we tell them and show them. They start out loving their parents. And then, they get a pet. They love the pet, too. Do they love their parents any less? No! That’s because love grows and expands to include everyone and everything you care about. Love is something you can share and everyone has all they want.

We will need to keep reminding and giving examples of how love grows and respect and approval does too. I really want my grandson to ‘get it’.

I believe jealousy and resentment can be cut way down when folks stop fearing loss of love, respect and appreciation. There will always be more than enough for everyone in my life and no one will get less because someone ‘new’ arrived.

Bessie Mathis

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