should i always give back snatched toys??

[chocolic]

my dc 18mths goes to quite a lot of playgroups. Often other kids snatch his toys and I tend to just distract him give / give him something else to play with. other mums don't tend to intervene.
But a couple of times he's taken things from other kids and I always immediatedly take them off him and give them back.
not sure if I am being too heavy handed with him as today when I took something off him (toy car) he got really upset. the boy who'd had it previously (about 2.5) didn't seem at all bothered when it was taken.
some mums just tell their kids to "play nicely" when they snatch. Perhaps I should just do that?

I'm with you - take it off them, explain that it's not nice to snatch / take without asking, and if the other kid isn't bothered and is happy to give it away, make your DC say thanks. I'm always slightly amazed this isn't what everyone does...

My DS is 5 months old and there are only about 5 toys he can play with at our stat and play. This week all 5 were snatched of him one after the other by toddlers. Not one of their mums did anything. I decided we may as well go home so he can play with something!

I always give toys back, two wrongs don't make a right and all that.

I also take toys from other kids if they've snatched them from dd. I just say "dd was playing with that just now, why don't you have x instead" in a bright and breezy way and give them a different toy. No one's ever complained about me doing it.

Agree completely with attheend - I too will remove a toy from another child who's snatched one from mine and say something equally breezy like "don't snatch, let's take turns. [dd] is playing with it now, and then it'll be your turn". I do find that children understand the concept of taking turns more than 'sharing' which is a term I loathe. I hear it slung lazily at children all the time.

Oh, and yes, I won't tolerate mine snatching from others and will give whatever it is back even if they're not interested.