“Mommy? Will you play Candy Land with me?” Even though it was 7:00 at night and I was exhausted after working all day. Dishes were still dirty, kitchen still a mess. We played, she smiled. It was all worth it.
“Mommy, can I play on your Ipad while you work?” She played and kept me company while I did some cleaning up around the house.
“Mommy? Can you make a me a pony tail?” She’s growing out her hair (has had a cute, short bob for last 4 years!) Here’s my braided pony tail. She loved it!
“Mommy? Can we make something with this rotten banana?” And we sure did. We made our ‘healthy’ cookies I talked about HERE.
“Mommy? Can I watercolor?” Yes! It’s a perfect, quiet activity and she had FUN! She was even being creative and used an old toilet paper roll! How could I say no to that one?
“Mommy? Can we do yoga?” This has been fun for us to do on week nights. I have a very simple 12 min DVD of yoga stretches and she really likes it!
I think I did pretty good with this little experiment. Yes, I had to still say “No” to some requests. Like “NO” to you can’t have 2 desserts. Mostly about food! My girl loves to snack. I learned to stop and think for a minute instead of flat saying “NO” right away. Here is an alternative to “NO”…. “Not right now”…. or “Let’s do this instead…” It really worked and felt better saying then the “NO!”
These are just some simple things that I said “yes” to. I know that some days it’s soooo easy to just say “NO” and not take the time to do a simple thing. I encourage you to try it. Take a minute to really think about what your child is asking before you quickly say “NO!” Become a “YES” mom!!
Lisa says
Such a simple thing that most of us forget to do!
Great post, really enjoyed reading it.
My son is 6 now and when he was around 3 I had to make an effort to not shout. I called myself a recovering shoutaholic. It’s amazing how our relationship changed when I made a conscious effort to not shout anymore.
Shannon says
The benefits can really pay off when we say “YES” more often 🙂