Last night at the Drive-In Gray sat in my lap. He looked back at me, then noticed the stars. He said when he grows up he wants to be an astronaut so that he can go to the stars, and some day he'll take me there. Oh, honey, you already have.
I've been saying yes like it's water this week. Can we get cookies at Starbucks (for breakfast)? Yes! Can we go to the park and get sprayed two days in a row? Yes! Can we have a picnic at the beach, too, again? Yes! Can we throw rocks? Yes!
I admit, all this yessing makes me feel like a happier mom. At first I was getting a little perturbed that the constant fun time was crowding in on my getting-stuff-done time. So, I'm a little behind on some things, but they are things that can be caught up eventually. And they will be. They always do. This
I love it! Iv'e been saying Yes! this week too! Being mom is so much easier this way....
ReplyDeletei'm a yes mom. except when i'm not.
ReplyDelete...deep, no? ;)
I love this post.
ReplyDeletePerfectly said.
ReplyDeleteLove it! Reminds me of an article in an old Wondertime magazine about a mom who decided to say to yes to everything within reason for a whole week. She also decided everyone was a lot happier!
ReplyDeleteLove the photo!
I can't do laundry anyway cuz my dryer's BROKEN. There's a good excuse, right?! heh
ReplyDeleteA friend just shared this quote wiht me today- "I really am your gift. I am not just a little person who needs to be "raised" and taught, and taken to activities....I came to the people in my life to bring a message: slow down. Feel. Be. Over and over again. When you do, you will notice immediately, that I am not an obstacle to your work, or inconvenience to your daily life. Instead, you will come to appreciate my honesty, humor, presence and love."-- Bruce Scott ♥
ReplyDeleteYES!!! I love this. Yes I do.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying - Mom can we play outside even though it's 105 and have popsicles? Yes! I said Yes to the park Tuesday morning too, and yes to dumping all the toys out of the two big toy baskets so they could sit in them and play "train" now... if only they would say "yes" to putting all those stuffed animals back :) ah well! Yes is a happy word.
ReplyDeleteOh, what at timely reminder to say "yes" more often. Feeling hot and giantly pregant makes me lean towards "no" these days, but my son needs a little more "yes" in his life. Especially since there will be a lot more "no"s once baby brother arrives.
ReplyDeleteThose are all really excellent things to say yes to. And I bet it feels pretty good too :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, and especially fitting for me today. I'm trying to say yes a lot more, and need to now that we've started a two week stint with Papa out of town. Time to play and swim and have lots of ice cream!
ReplyDeleteI haven't gotten jack-squat done this week either, but we've played in the pool and in the sprinkler. We've painted and made lip gloss and made paper butterflies and brownies and bead art and homemade chalk (that was supposed to glow-in-the-dark, but didn't). We even got our hands (and somehow our feet, too) splattered with color while tie-dying tee shirts. We haven't left the house since Monday and it's been fabulously fun. Chores? I'll work on those next week. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is so coincidental. I was thinking about writing something called "The Yes Factor" and how it's a fine line between making parenting easier (no invokes debate, whining, substitutions, etc. much more work) and more fun. I mean, YOU get to do all the things you say yes to.
ReplyDeletePS - your kids can pee in the bushes at my house (or, behind the play cottage)
Fun summer! I was wondering how the drive-in went.
ReplyDeletekeep the yes coming :) and enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI so want to be your kid. Haha! Great pic of Ivy!
ReplyDeleteI love this, Steph. I think yeses and nos can both work in a kind of feedback loop: the more you say them, the easier it gets, and the more follow - and yeses tend to bring a lot more happiness than nos.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your yeses, your weekend, and your summer!
That picture is fabulous, Steph.
ReplyDeleteI've been yes-ing a lot this summer, too. I'm so glad.
Yes while you can because as they get older, there are too many times that you have no choice but to say no. Enjoy the yessing because the kids remember the little things most. I can tell you that from experience.
ReplyDeleteLove this! And I love the tutu suit pic...beautiful!! "It's the only one we've got" - oh.so.true!!!
ReplyDeletewww.girlwillow.blogspot.com
Great post! It is so important to have these seasons of yes to our babies & no to housework/etc. :) I'm trying to have a season of 'yes' with my older 2 while waiting on #3 to make his appearance- sometime this week! :)
ReplyDeletei love yes.
ReplyDeleteI've found that saying yes, and sometimes letting Moanna decide what we're doing, where we're going, what's for dinner etc, makes it so much easier for her to accept the no's.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I like to be the yes-mom too. Ususally it's Dad who says yes, and I'm the meany.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, mama! Gretchen's home from daycare (where she goes 3 days a week) for the month of August. I plan on just going all out -- forget it all, have fun, find happiness! Cause it's been a mess over here and I need it!
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head. :)
ReplyDeleteIs that a splash park? We went to a really great one last week in Cincinnati. $2/kid.
stephanie@metropolitanmama.net
Best bit of parenting advice I ever got was "Always try to say yes or some form of yes." Living in Yes World is really fun!
ReplyDeleteStephanie: You are such an awesome Mom, who clearly is devoted to your family. YES! Thank goodness you are encouraging others to appreciate their time with their children. So relax, have another popcycle & enjoy! There is plenty of time as you guide them into adult hood and to draw boundries.
ReplyDeleteYES! (i always think, why not? and then just do it.)
ReplyDeletesuch a sweet pic too!
Ok, I'll play devil's advocate here. :) Some of those "yes" answers sound like perhaps they should have been "no" answers. Ice cream and drive thru food and cookies for breakfast...?
ReplyDeleteI know that if I spend a week saying "yes" to those kind of things, I spend the next month having to say "no" a LOT more often, because the kids figure that Mom has gone soft and will let them have anything they feel like. The result is often LESS happiness (unless, of course, I just decided it was ok for them to eat junk food all the time...which I won't.)
Know what I mean? How do you plan to deal with the inevitable and necessary "nos" that come afterward?
Emily, I just felt like I'd been saying no so much that it was a nice change to just have some fun and say yes for a bit to things that really didn't matter at the time. Kind of a "why not?" approach. I found it made me feel better and got us through the days more smoothly, but not in the sense that I had given in, but that we were just riding the moment.
ReplyDeleteI think it was good for my kids to see that it's ok to give in sometimes and they totally know it's not an everyday occurrence. They've been great since. It was a good thing.
Steph
Steph
Summer is definitely the season of Yeses. They do feel so good. :)
ReplyDeleteMy mother always said, "If it doesn't hurt them or anybody else, say yes". She was very wise.
ReplyDelete"Oh, honey, you already have." Perfection.
ReplyDeletehow are more people not commenting on that photo? amazing! love it. and I am not normally one taken with the selective color thing.
ReplyDeleteyour yes's sound fun and I probably need to relax and go with the flow more! I have a very strong "if I say yes once, I'll never hear the end of it again" streak in me. A huge fear of precedent setting, if you will. As if 1 cookie means they'll never eat broccoli again in their lives! Thanks for the reminder that the world does not end if we all lighten up now and then.
love this idea. i often wonder why our first instinct as parents is to always say "no". where does that come from? i'm not saying spoil your kid rotten {and i know you aren't either} but i think everyone could do with more yeses. =)
ReplyDeleteps. love, love, love the pic!!
So true, but SO hard!
ReplyDelete