The Toddler's Creed

If I want it, it's mine.
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine.
If I can take it away from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If it's mine, it will never belong to anyone else, no matter what.
If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks like mine, it's mine.

This was coined by child development expert Burton L. White, Ph.D. in his book Raising a Happy, Unspoiled Child

This trait characterizes a child of about 20-21 months and extends onwards as the child expands his perception of "himself" to the objects around him. This is usually classified in the Pre-operational stage when a child is about 2 to 7 years old. As the child develops a concept of himself...

First physically, he discovers and learns to control parts of his body (note how we teach kids to open and close their palms as well as bat their eyes using the cue, "beautiful eyes"). Later on, he extends himself to people close to him, like family members and eventually things. A quality defined by Jean Piaget, "the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing" also well known for his developmental theories, as Egocentrism. This is the belief that the child is the centre of the universe and everything revolves around him: the corresponding inability to see the world as someone else does and adapt to it. This is not moral "selfishness", it is just an early stage of psychological development. The child just really perceives all these things to be well, his. He has much difficulty taking the viewpoint of others, which is why it's not advisable for toddlers to play competitive games as each one will have to be a winner.

In this stage, kids naturally act like little people attempting to act on their own by walking on their own, learning how to talk, using the toilet, and even fending food for themselves (in the kitchen anyway). This empowerment from not being able to do much during infancy, is overwhelming to a child and makes him feel like he can do anything and this will reflect on how he behaves. Parents will find that they will have to say "NO" a lot more often than necessary. Reminds you much of teen-agers doesn't it? And rightfully so. They undergo the same passage from awkward adolescence to adulthood, and relatively similar factors (independence, empowerment and transition) are at work.

But unfortunately just because it's a toddler's creed doesn't mean adults don't act that way too.