If my son grabs a toy from his yopunger brother should I grab it back?

Question

My 3 year old son grabbed a toy from his 2 year old brother that prompted him to cry out loud. Fearing of hurting his feelings I grabbed the toy back from his older bro and gave to the crying one. But this created another problem, the older bro cried as well and even hid himself under the couch and didn't wanna get out when I called on him. I fear of creating a bad parenting skill and damage to their psychological health..What is the proper way for a father to do in this situation? thanks

Answer 1

Your 3 year old is just reacting naturally for his age.  Try giving him another toy to distract him, then return the other one to his brother.  If you need to, pick up the 3 year old and take him into another room, tell him simply not to take toys away, then distract him with something else.  Give him a hug and make sure that you let him know that you love him.  

Perhaps there are some parenting classes at your local community center or at your local hospital.  This might give you some skills and confidence in parenting.  There are also books you can read on parenting that are good, but there are some bad ones too.

Good luck to you.

Answer 2

You need to teach your kids to share.

Be firm when teaching, but not mean.

Your older son needs to learn not to just take things from people. If he wants to cry and throw a temper tantrum, ignore it. The worst thing you can do is pamper your child when they are crying just because they didn't get their way.

If you continue with this sort of behavior your child will end up spoiled and selfish.

Establish dominance. Your childern need to know who is boss.