Spoilt child vs. Spoiling a child

This has been a very frequent conversation in our house recently. We moved an armchair from the corner of our house to give Logan a dedicated play space as I found because his toys were out of sight he was forgetting he had most of them.

We always get 'God he has alot of toys doesnt he' or 'does he really need that much'. Logan is very fortunate to have loads of Aunts, Uncles, his Grandparents and family friends, so he would have got alot for his first Christmas and first Birthday but as I say to people that will sizzle out, our ever growing family will get to the point where there is too many kids to buy for so why not let him enjoy it while it lasts.

I think the difference between a spoilt child and spoiling a child is what we teach them, my rules with Logan are he has to share, he needs to know the difference between his toys and someone else's as in he cant go into someone's house and expect to throw around someone else's toys and he will be donating toys on the run up to Christmas every year and he will be thought the importance of this and be included in every step, picking them out, packing them up and bringing them to a charity shop.

He is already a great sharer at the age of 18 months which makes me so proud of him. He brings toys to me and Glenn all day long for us to play with, I currently have an Elmo teddy sitting beside me while typing, even Coco's first day with our family he came over and placed his favourite toy peek-a-boo teddy on her paws and walked away!! He really is a sweet kid.

So I think its important to watch a child's behaviour to ensure they don't become a spoiled child by doing a few simple steps:

1. Get used to saying 'no', set limits and don't give in if they are throwing a tantrum for something. - I limit what I buy Logan to reward times, first night sleeping in his own room, after he got his needles etc

2. Teach them to share and be considerate of others feelings

3. Teaching them to be grateful for what they have

4. Show that giving is better than receiving, I like to get him to give presents to people at birthday and Christmas to show him not all presents are his.

I feel like it will shape them to be the person they will grow into so we need to start now. As I say why let the bad habit even start, lets stop using the excuse that hes only a baby and let them learn it from the get go.