This post is sponsored by Mattel. All opinions are my own
 
Mater: I knowed it, I knowed I made a good choice.
Lightning McQueen: In what?
Mater: My best friend.
I want my boys to be best friends like Mater and McQueen.    They have just started playing together and sharing has become our newest goal.   Three year olds are crazy.  Milo and Oli both love Cars, and to celebrate Cars Day on February 11, we decided to practice sharing with their favorite cars toys, so we have them line up their Mattel Disney Pixar Cars Toys and pick teams.   Then we play for a while and pick teams again.  We have found that the taking turns is helping so much.
  • Choices: Forcing kids to share has not worked in our home.  Offering choices and picking toys has made a huge difference in our home.
  • Define the word “mine”:   I learned this from another mom.  Kids don’t know what mine means.  Especially 3 year olds.  Instead of mine in our home, we have been modeling behavior and saying “I am playing with this toy right now, you can have it next.”  It’s a slow process, but it’s starting to work.
  • Taking turns takes practice: We set timers, we count races, and we as parents say red light – time to switch toys.  It’s really working.

We do not only use this process with toys, we have started doing picnic lunches with the same process.  Serve food family style, nothing messy like pasta.  But simple sandwiches and fruit is a fun start.    Oli and Milo love Stoplight Sandwiches.   We serve them on a platter with fruit and veggies.  They grab their own foods and keep playing.   We normally do this outside, but it’s been rainy and cold.  So bedroom picnics work too!

Recipe
Bread, Cheese, Tomato, and Lettuce
Cut small circles out of the bread and let the different sandwich ingredients show through.  It’s seriously so cute.
Thank you Mattel for Sponsoring this fun post!  And all of the cute toys, the boys treasure can be found  in the toys/collectibles aisle at Walmart!