"No, It's Not"

Though she's in the middle, our toddler is generally always last to pick what she wants. After my delayed birthday party tonight (we've been sick for several days), I had two figurines that my wife put on my cake: a combo Timon and Pumba and a young Simba, from my favorite movie "The Lion King." Feeling for my little girl, I gave her first choice of which figurine she could have. She chose Simba. My oldest got the other one. I told my son that when I was a little boy my mom gave me a Pumba toy too. My wife then whispered, "Honey, Simba is his favorite." I felt bad. Being older and having actually seen the movie, he arguably should have gotten it. It didn't help that my wife suggested our girl may have wanted it because she knew our son wanted it. In my calmest and wisest voice, I explained my reason for giving it to my daughter, fully expecting my son to understand. Throughout the night he kept trying to trade with her, but she didn't want to. He may have understood, but he did not have the same compassion for his sister's plight that I did. Then I reminded him, "She may want to trade at some point, but she may not, and that's okay." To my surprise, my son mumbled almost under his breath, "No, it's not." We tried other strategies too, like, "You have allowance and your sister doesn't, so you can buy one." He didn't seem satisfied. I think he went to sleep with the hope that his little sister would give it up to him at some point. I'm learning that I cannot make all lessons sink in. He is usually very good about giving. But perhaps this will provide my son with an experience that will teach him one of the toughest lessons in giving: not coveting what your giving, but letting someone have the best thing for a change and feeling happy because they are happy. It's a tough one, but I'm confident all of our kids will get it at some point.