[Beauty4Ashes]

My children were playing outside and I was talking to a Pakistani lady who recently came to the USA. She has a daughter who looks like she is 2ish. Her dd took ds2's tricycle (hot wheels) when he was not using it and started riding it. Ds2 got upset, so I tried to redirect her to ds2's other tricycle, but she refused. I tried to explain to ds2 about taking turns--he's normally pretty good about taking turns with my assistance. Ds2 was still upset, so I tried to redirect him to the little red metal tricycle that he got for his birthday. He reluctantly went with me, but perked up considerably when I told him that I could clean up his metal tricycle with a paper towel and some spit so that it would be shiny again. Well, I thought that maybe the little girl would allow ds2 to ride his hot wheels again, but she didn't. Danny did finally get a chance and she tried to push him off. She pushed Bashar as well when he was using Danny's hot wheels. She got back on the hot wheels, Danny was upset again, so I told him, Danny, say "I want to ride my bike" or "Give me my bike, please". The mother picked her up and removed her a few times. She told me that her daughter is "very bad" because she will hit her mother, pull off her hijab, kick, and get angry if her husband wanted to come near her (the mother). Finally the mother took her dd back to their apartment. I said, you know, maybe she is getting tired.

I guess what I am wondering is how I could have handled this differently. On one hand, I want for my children to know how to take turns. But on the other hand, what do you do when someone else's child has no concept of what it is to take turns? I *know* that at the age of 2, taking turns/sharing is not something that they are capable of doing on their own, that they need help in that area. She is an only child, so that may have something to do with it. But she was getting really rough with my boys, trying to push them off a hot wheels that belongs to both of them. Neither of my boys tried to hit her or anything, but Bashar did try to stick up for his brother. I think that this could be a chance to model gbd ot the mother, she seems kind of out of place since she just came to the USA recently (if I understood her correctly) and maybe her dd is also having a hard time adjusting to life in a new country.

Thoughts?