Owning My Nos as a Parent

I recently read an old blog article on Abundant Mama about how to be a calm parent. Something that really stuck out to me, and that I feel like I do on a regular basis, was to own your nos. Basically, you can get in a cycle of constantly telling your kid "no" without even thinking about why you're responding that way.


Over the years, I've caught myself in a "no" wondering why I was even saying "no". My daughter wasn't eating raw meat or trying to stab the couch with scissors. She simply wanted to go outside when it was 17 degrees out. She just wanted to go downstairs and explore (or watch this really terrible YouTube video featuring Lightning McQueen, Elsa, Buzz, Woody, and Optimus Prime). She just wanted to play by taking out all of her diapers or Pull-Ups and putting them on her baby doll or lining them up on the floor.

Is there really any harm in those things? Am I saying "no" simply because it's inconvenient to me?

I feel like this goes with something else that was on the Abundant Mama list - think of the big picture. Not everything our kids do is "that big a deal". Do we need to make it a big deal? No. Just move on.

So yes, you will find me standing outside on my deck when it's freezing outside simply because my kid wants to ride her motorcycle around. (She loves to play outside.) And yes, I will go downstairs with her even though I don't really want to. And yes, I will let her put her underwear all over the floor because is it that big a deal? No. If that's how she wants to play, then I will gladly sit there and watch her use her imagination to come up with interesting stories and adventures.

And then we will still use those diapers and Pull-Ups because that stuff costs money!

photo credit: Poppins Design