I don’t remember where I read it, but it was said that, it is much better to tell your children “please walk” than “don’t run”. I practiced it when Yaya was little and never used the word “No” and one day when she was about 14 months old she discovered the word “No” and she used it for everything, we had weeks of “No” . When I asked “Yaya would you life to take a nap”

“No” she would reply and promptly went to bed few minutes later. She used to drive me crazy with  her “no”, but eventually I too got converted to say “No” and soon it became “Yaya, take your nap NOW”

Over the years, it has been the one word that causes the maximum drama in my house. It starts with “mom, can I..(add anything here)” and after careful consideration if I said “No”, which immediately gets the reply “why not” and the answer “because I am your mom and I said so”..and then it all goes downhill. The thing is, none of my children come to me with a question that I can say Yes, like, “Mom, can I help you with the laundry?” “Can I cook dinner?” Would you like me to mow the lawn?” They only come to with questions that obviously has a “no” in built in it. Like “Mom, Can I watch MA 15 movie with my friends (my son just turned 13 and he obviously knows I won’t allow him to watch MA 15 till he is 15)

I don’t say “No’ without a rhyme or reason and I expect my children to absolutely understand that when I say No, I mean it. But that has been the one message, they still haven’t got.