My first answer to nearly everything my children ask me is always a full throat-ed and enthusiastic "NO!!!".
"Can I have a snack?"
"No, no no you'll spoil your dinner!"
"Can I go play in the mud?"
"NO NO NO It is not in my mind to bathe you tonight!"
"Can I have all the children in the church over to play this afternoon?"
"ARE YOU Kidding ME? NO!"
"Can I eat this bug?"
"No! Well, maybe if it doesn't look poisonous."
"Can I help you cook?"
"Oh baby, not right now. Mommy needs to be alone in the kitchen right now or she will loose her mind."
Except today I turned into the fuzzy bunny Santa tooth fairy of money and candy.
"You vacuumed the office?! AWESOME! Here's a dollar."
"You guys want to build a fort? Here's a whole mattress and a board to build a wall. Yeah sure, take all the tea cups and a bucket of water."
And then this evening, "Sure, you can sleep in the fort."
They're not sleeping though. Its like a carnival in there. And it sounds like there's six forts, or something. Probably Santa Mama will be up in the middle of the night when everyone freaks out and tries to get in her bed. Night Night!
6 comments:
Why the sudden change, Anne? Is it an election year?
Heh, I'm not sure. I think they've just worn me down.
ohmyword! How fun. Some of my best memories are sleeping in forts in the living room. Adorable.
By (fallen) nature, I'm squarely in the "say no first then think it over" school of parenting. My father's son, I reckon. But then I spend some time with kids in the hospital who have Stage 4 leukemia or something monstrous like that, and suddenly, huge doses of indulgence don't seem like such a horrible transgression anymore.
My husband and I always say no first without even thinking. (It's a subconcious reaction I think). Then when we actually think about the question we most of the time wonder why we said no and take it back.
I'm naturally a "no" mama, too. Lately I've been consciously trying to say "yes" unless there is a darn good reason to say "no". I've surprised myself by how often I said "no" without any reason at all!
Sleeping in an indoor fort sounds fantastic. I bet my kids would love it. Maybe we'll try that. :)
Post a Comment