Can I eat fruit gummies for breakfast? NO
Can I wear my pajamas to school? NO
Can I lick my brother? NO
Can I take the 8 gazillion toys I have snuggled into my hands in the car on the way to the store? NO
You get the idea and I am sure you have your own stories of unusual requests from your house. Sometimes when you are with several different families, you can hear the word almost in slow motion. No. No. No. Then we all laugh about it.
I read this blog awhile ago about sometimes instead of automatically replying with No, try YES! On some occasions, it really doesn't matter if they have fruit gummies for breakfast. And I am sure there is some brother bonding in licking one another (gross). And why not take all your toys and cars that you can carry in two hands for some errand shopping? Sometimes it feels good to say YES.
A few weeks ago it was raining hard and I picked up Paul from school. It was chilly and windy and as we were running to the car Paul suggested we get some hot chocolate to warm up. Before he even finished his sentence I was saying NO. And who the hell says no to hot chocolate? I quickly changed my tune and told him it was a great idea. We walked in the rain to Starbucks, purchased two sugar filled hot chocolates, topped with whipped cream and it was a lovely afternoon.
What have you said yes to lately?
Well, my kids don't really talk yet but one of the things in "positive discipline" is to try to say yes even if you are also re-directing (aka saying no). So if a kid doesn't want to put his shoes on before going outside, instead of saying "No, you can't go outside until you put your shoes on" you say "Yes, we can go outside just as soon as your shoes are on." I guess the idea is that you are giving them a Yes option and also saving your No for when it really matters. I agree that it's no fun to say No all day long! :)
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