Tuesday, August 6, 2013

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"
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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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!
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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!
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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
Todays Creative BlogInspiring Creative Moments 

It's Overflowing

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

Stacy


41 comments:

  1. What a fun idea!!!Sounds like a great day to me! We'll have to try this out!

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  2. What a great idea! I am definitely going to do this with my little guy when he's a little older!

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  3. That's an awesome idea! I think I may give it a try soon before summer break is over!

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  4. Cute idea! I really like this and might steal it when my kids are older. Love the things that you learned from your yes day.

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  5. I love this. You're an awesome fun mama

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  6. I love this and am so glad that you shared it with us because I've been trying to figure out how to do it with my kids. Maybe this weekend....

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  7. This is such a great idea! I am so glad it turned out so well for you. I see this being a tradition with your family, right? :) Can't wait to try this one day.

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  8. Love this. I will be doing it too!!!!!

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  9. I absolutely love this idea, definitely filing away for when E is old enough!

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  10. This is a fabulous idea! It sounds like so much fun!

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  11. Liz @ A Nut in a NutshellAugust 6, 2013 at 11:15 AM

    You are so sweet to have given them this special day, and especially smart to have set up parameters in advance!

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  12. Yes, that parameters really were what the day actually be able to work.

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  13. Thank you! It really was such a great day and a great way to end our summer

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  14. I am pretty sure this will now be our last day of summer tradition

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  15. Awesome! Can't wait to hear how yours goes. If you blog about it let me know for sure!

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  16. Yep, I think this is our new last day of summer tradition

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  17. Yes definitely do it! It is fun-- the money limit is definitely necessary especially with older kids who may get some crazy ideas

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  18. Yes, I figured it would just be a really fun day, I was surprised by how many little things I was really reminded of again

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  19. Yes, I think this our new last day of summer tradition.

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  20. You did really well, and it sounds like all the basics were covered. I liked the rooms needing to be cleaned first. Nice touch!

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  21. I hope you do and I hope it is totally a great day.

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  22. Yes- that was my trickiness to make sure things were cleaned up and ready to go :)

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  23. This would be fun to make a tradition - maybe sometime the last week before school starts you could always plan your 'yes day'.

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  24. What an awesome thing to do! And I'm glad it worked out for all of you. Sometimes it's really the simple things (even though they may feel like big things at the time or complicated things). So cool!!

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  25. sometimes having a yes day make the best memories oh and if saying yes to jumping on beds or furniture just a side note makes sure you padded the floor because at 40 falling off a bed is no fun..lol

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  26. Yep, I think it will definitely become a tradition for that last week if not even the last day.

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  27. Exactly! It really turned out to be a lot more simpler than I thought it would be too.

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  28. Okay, I'm totally planning a yes day now!

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  29. Lol! Sounds like you learned from experience. And yea, left the jumping for the kids.

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  30. Yea!! Excited to hear how yours goes

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  31. yep the backside may have padding but definitely not enough

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  32. You're such a cute and fantastic fun mom Em! I love your rules. Such a great idea. I am sure my kids would love this so much. Fun!

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  33. This is seriously such an awesome idea! I would love to do this with my son, but I will have to wait until he gets a little older and can understand the rules a little better :D

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  34. I love this so much! Where did you come up with this idea? Seriously have to try it out! Also...I have no idea how to post comments as my blogger profile, I had to set up something else? So now it doesn't link back to my blog...

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  35. I honestly am not sure-- I think i may have heard about it at a Power of moms thing, can't remember though.
    Yea, I changed my commenting system, sorry, I like that I am able to reply on my blog though and it automatically emails the person back. If you set up a Disqus account, you can link it to your blog, twitter, FB whatever you want and then it will link back

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  36. Yes, they definteily need to be old enough to understand the novelty and the rules

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  37. Thank you! You should try it, it was actually way easier and more simple than I thought it would be

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  38. Awesome idea. Love it.

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