I grew up with three younger brothers and no sisters.  For the most part, my toys were my toys.  My brothers wanted nothing to do with my Barbie dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids and the like.  There were toys that we shared but I do not recall any big fights or incidences surrounding sharing.

My husband and I mistakenly believed that one advantage to having all girl triplets would be toy sharing.  We thought that we would not have to worry about purchasing trucks and dolls.  Baseballs and ballerina shoes.  That was all thrown out the window when we purchased three identical doll strollers.

My girls know how to share.  Whenever other children are in our home, they willingly play and share their toys.  They have never said, “That is mine,” to another child (except for their sisters).  The issue with sharing usually surrounds one playing by herself and a sister barging in to take away a toy.  I like to think of it this way – if I was happily playing by myself, off in an imaginative world, and someone ran in and swiped some of my Little People, I would be upset too.

The girls have taken over some of the toys as their own and it is a well known fact amongst the three of them what belongs to whom.  Allie has one of the Elmo dolls and a stuffed dinosaur, Anna has some of the dolls and Em has a little lion and, most recently, the pink piggy.  There are never any arguments surrounding those toys.   

I have never completed any research on this myself and I do not claim to be a child psychiatrist but another mother of mulitples told me that an expert she heard speak about raising multiples claims that each child should have his/her own toys in order to feel secure.  Interesting…

So I am the mom this holiday season who purchased three bathtime baby dolls, three baby doll bath tubs, three baby doll high chairs, three baby doll cribs and three sets of baby doll bottles.  The girls still have many ”shared” toys and will receive more as Christmas presents this year.  I am not about to buy three sets of Little People play sets.

What are your views on toy sharing?  Do you purchase toys in duplicate (or triplicate)?

Sarah is the mother to two and a half year old identical triplet girls – Allie, Anna and Emily – who were born at 35 weeks and 6 days.  She works full time as a Tax Director for Big Financial Institution and enjoys sharpening her photography skills with her daughters’ help.  You can read more about her crazy life raising triplets at The Great Umbrella Heist.