Just Say Yes!

In an attempt to be a better parent/homeschooler I am really trying to say yes to my kids more often.  It is surprisingly harder to do than I expected and requires a lot of patience and flexibility on my part. But I'm trying, and I'm happy to report, the more often I say yes, the more real learning happens.  For example, this morning I gave the kids strawberries with their breakfast and Adeline asked if she could have a knife to cut her strawberries into "even more" strawberries.  My first impulse was to say no.  I could have given one of many different excuses (we don't play with knives, just eat them, I don't want to get more dishes dirty, etc.) but instead I stopped myself, thought about it for a few seconds and realized there was no harm in saying yes, and those few seconds of actually thinking before I answered made all the difference.  She got a knife, started cutting and figuring out how many strawberries she now had.  Basic math exploration.  Call it fractions, call it dividing, call it simple counting, call it multiplying, call it fine motor skills.  Whatever you call it, learning was happening.  Of course Bobby had to get a knife too and he joined in on the learning as well.  I didn't have to do anything.  I didn't have to teach a math lesson or force a worksheet on them.  The hardest part of it all for me was to let go and let it happen.  This probably seems like such a silly simple thing, but my first impulse was to say no.  How many times a day do I follow that impulse to say no just because it might make my life a tiny bit easier?  Yes, I had to put 2 extra knives in the dishwasher.  Yes, I had to watch the kids (mainly Bobby) to make sure they didn't hurt themselves with the knives.  But at least I didn't shoot Adeline down before realizing that there was really no harm in saying yes.  As I learn to loosen up and let life happen, my kids learn as well.  Keeping things positive really helps improve the mood in our house.  So my new parenting motto is "Just Say Yes" (unless they ask to stay up past bedtime...that's where I draw the line ;)