When will my baby know the difference between "mine" and "theirs"? Or do I have to teach him?

Question

When will my baby know the difference between "mine" and "theirs"? Or do I have to teach him?

Answer 1

you have to teach them. you baby wont know anything except how he/she is feeling. You have to teach him or her everything!! Its a big job but we are blessed to be able to do it!

Answer 2

It's best to teach them early. They may have sharing issues otherwise. babies are able to understand very early on in life.  

Answer 3

Babies might learn this concept on a very fundamental level with prolonged training at about 1 year.  At around six months, babies learn the concept of object permanence (objects that can't be seen are still there).   Usually, they don't truly learn separation of consciousness until they are toddlers.

Some examples of this:

If you are upset, a toddler will bring you an object (their favorite stuffed animal) that would cheer them up if they were upset.  They think, if it cheers them up, it will cheer you up.

If you talk on the phone to a small child, they will try to show you things through the phone.  (My niece accused me of pushing her while I was on the phone with her!)

If you give a child an object and tell them to hide it in one hand behind their back and have you guess which hand, they will show you both because if they know which hand it is, then you will too.