The Internet is currently divided, thanks to a mother from the Springfield, Missouri area, who decided to teach her son a unique lesson about the art of sharing. When several boys approached Alanya Kolberg’s son Carson to play with his toys, Alanya insisted that it was okay for him to not share with the other kids if he did not want to.
In a now viral photo that was posted on Facebook on Apr. 19, Kolberg told the story of her son’s encounter with other children at a park. “As soon as we walked in the park, Carson was approached by at least six boys all at once, demanding that he share his transformer, Minecraft figure, and truck,” she recalled. “He was visibly overwhelmed and clutched them to his chest as the boys reached for them. He looked at me. ‘You can tell them no, Carson,’ I said. ‘Just say no. You don’t have to say anything else.'”
Of course, Kolberg’s life lesson was not well-received by the other kids, prompting them to “tattle” on her to their parents, who were sitting nearby. “That got me some dirty looks from other parents,” she continued. But despite the death stares, Kolberg stuck by her reasoning. “If I, an adult, walked into the park eating a sandwich, am I required to share my sandwich with strangers in the park? No! So really, while you’re giving me dirty looks, presumably thinking my son and I are rude, whose manners are lacking here? The person reluctant to give his 3 toys away to six strangers, or the six strangers demanding to be given something that doesn’t belong to them, even when the owner is obviously uncomfortable,” she explained.
Kolberg finished with some lasting words for other parents who may agree or disagree with her actions. “The goal is to teach our children how to function as adults. While I do know some adults who clearly never learned how to share as children, I know far more who don’t know how to say no to people, or how to set boundaries, or how to practice self-care,” she wrote. “The next time your snowflake runs to you, upset that another child isn’t sharing, please remember that we don’t live in a world where it’s conducive to give up everything you have to anyone just because they said so, and I’m not going to teach my kid that that’s the way it works.”