Our Yes Day

As parents we tend to say one thing a lot, or at least I know I do.  "No".  It might not always be that exact word, it might be "not right now" or "sorry, we can't" or "stop that right now!"

You know that is okay, we need to say no as a parent; it is our job to try and raise kind good, not totally spoiled selfish little brats and that often means saying no.

As our summer came to an end I wanted to try something new, something different and special for just one day; a "Yes Day"

What is a "Yes Day"- well it is just what it sounds like, a day where every answer is Yes.

Now before you go checking me into the loony bin, I did establish some rules.

The Yes Day Rules

• Money limit: We were allowed to only spend $40 that day, so if their requests were going to be more than that, then they did not qualify.
• That money must be spent equally.
• No fighting, arguing or whining or yes day will end.
• Everyone must agree on what things we are doing, each person can have a turn picking their favorite but all have to agree.
• Nothing is allowed that will make you sick-- i.e. if you eat ice cream at every meal you also need to eat something healthy
• Only the answer "yes" is allowed
• Have fun!

Oh and for my own benefit- in order for them to do the Yes Day- all of their rooms had to be clean.

The day before our planned Yes Day, their rooms were not clean but I was assured they would be before I was out of bed.  Early the next morning, 6:00 AM to be exact, I heard things banging and being moved around, Lucas was cleaning his room.  Soon Alex was up and they worked together to quickly clean her room.

They came into my room all excited informing me that their rooms were clean. I asked if Ryder's was clean.  They quickly grabbed him and helped him clean his room.  They were soon back. "Okay all clean can we begin our Yes Day right now?!?"   

To which I gave my first reluctant "Yes" of the day, to which they both giggled at of course.

As soon as we made it downstairs they asked "Can we have ice cream for breakfast?"  To which I of course answered yes and actually had it for breakfast myself.

They then asked to watch a show- I said yes and took advantage of the time to get caught up on a few blogs.

Our next stop was the park.  As we were walking/riding scooters there, they would ask things like "Are we going to go out this gate?"  "Can we cross the street here?" all things that they knew we were going to do they just enjoyed the novelty of every answer having to be yes.

They then asked if we could go to Target so they could each spend a little money; by this point they had already decided they wanted to go to the movies, so they calculated how much the movies would cost and knew they each just had a few dollars to spend at Target.

I was very impressed and happy (and a little surprised quite frankly) with how they did not try and push the rules and actually worked really hard to stay within them.

They each picked out their small toys and I surprised them with Lunchables for lunch (not from our budget money).

Ryder with this 4 Matchbox cars he bought

After lunch we saw Despicable Me 2.  They did not ask for any snacks when we arrived, as they knew their money was spent but I decide to once again surprise them with snacks from the concessions.  I think the budget thing was really for me-- as otherwise who knows what I would have done!

The rest of the day went just as great.  It helped me realize that while everyday should not be a yes day, that I do need to be a little more quick to say yes.  For example, that day Ryder asked if I wanted to play a game and I have to admit my gut reaction was to say "no, I need to get this done now" but it was a yes day, so I said yes!

As the day to came to end, as my son pointed out that "yes, this day does have to end".

What I learned from Our Yes Day
First- I learned that I need to be careful about the automatic "no" and take the time and chances to say yes a little more
Second-that when given clear boundaries and rules right up front kids will listen and do what they are supposed to
Third- a budget and rules are a must for a successful yes day otherwise you will find yourself having to say no
Fourth- Make sure you do your "Yes Day" on a day free of commitments where you can just really be present
Fifth-it feels good to say yes

Have you ever done a yes day?  I would love to hear all about it!

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I am linking this post up at the following crafting blogs

 

Since it is Tuesday I am linking up with some other great Tuesday meme's.  IA and Shawn's Talk to Us Tuesday and Stacy Uncorked's Random Tuesday