"Let's play together" can get complicated

Happy Easter! He has risen! We had a beautiful Easter Day with an egg hunt, Easter eggs, sharing, singing and more. 

As I greet people and say, "happy Easter," people look at me and ask, is it "Easter?" Or "what's Easter?" It's a beautiful Sunday and we were outside for a while playing with other kids.

I like the idea of "playing together." But it's an interesting concept in China. 

Confucianism teaches people to respect and to differ to anyone older or more esteemed in position. In life this means, if a small kid takes a big kids ball and the big kid (without reacting) has to let the smaller child play. It doesn't matter if my 6 year old is playing football; a 2 year old can come over and take the ball from the older kids.

I've been learning to watch how other people react rather than just do things my way. Older kids usually (if they are playing with two balls) let the little one take it without saying anything. They don't seem to mind. I watch their faces and they don't flinch. No sense of injustice flashes through their faces.

If my two year old is playing with Lego men, he's always expected to "share." Sharing means, letting kids come, take the Legos and play with them. Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal, but when this is a constant expectation, ahh, i have to chance my perspective.

So it looks like this. My little guy is playing. Someone without anything to do is told "go play with 'him.'" That means, my child should give the other child his toys so they can "play together." 

It happens everyday, all the time. I like to share. (My kids are still learning not to react to the injustice of letting someone take their toys.)

Ok, ok. In reality I don't actually let it happen all the time. I try to encourage kids to play together and I gently tell parents that maybe "sharing" isn't just "taking." The Chinese sharing style is an interesting concept. I wonder how these "sharing" styles  influence society as kids grow up. How does this thinking impact how adults interact and make decisions?