Weekly Column: Just Say Yes

On a recent morning at home with my daughters, I caught a glimpse of an ugly monster prowling around to ruin our day. The ‘No’ monster. He snuck in and made himself comfortable, and before I knew it, every other word out of my mouth was ‘no!’ I got so sick of his unwelcome presence that I kicked the monster out, and vowed to have a Yes day, instead.

Nearly every reasonable request made by my girls was granted. We made forts out of blankets and pillows. We played endless games of hide-and-seek. We cooked together (messily), chewed bubblegum, and had dance parties. We dragged out a tent, filled it with stuffed animals, and read stories by flashlight. We raced each other to the mailbox, and played with bowls of bubbles. We took naps in odd places after reading too many stories. We painted (again, messily) with sparkly glue. We dug in dirt. We had fun in every way we could imagine.

I was beyond exhausted at the end of that day, and antsy from the loss of our routine, but it was a wonderful lesson for us. There are undoubtedly going to be times when we don’t get our way. That’s life, right? But how nice must it be for our kids to get a day, set aside from all the rest, when ‘no’ is barely uttered? A day of fulfilled imaginations and backwards rules? A day when the ‘No’ monster is banished to being only an infrequent guest in our joyful lives?

Since that day, I’ve decided that saying yes is every bit as important as saying no. Knowing their mom isn’t always against them might help my kids be more willing to accept a well-timed ‘no’. After all, they know she’s likely to say YES! any minute now.