Friday, April 24, 2009

"No!"
"No!"
"No!"
"NO!"

How many times a day do I hear that word?
We're in the hundreds at least.
We ask Bug is he would like us to feed him ice cream for dinner? His first answer is no, then he thinks about it and decides yes, he might like that.
Ask Boo why he's standing buck naked in the middle of the kitchen holding a sippie cup and a chocolate bar. He answers no and then tells us it's his brother's fault.
Even wee little Punk now has that word in her vocabulary. Ask he if she's tired as she falls asleep on my shoulder, leaving a drool ring on my shirt, and she'll shake her head until it lops over sideways and snores come from her puckered lips.
Ask any of my children if dinner is good? No. Said in between mouthfuls shoved in faster than a fat man at a pie eating contest.
No. No. No. no. No. No. No.
No matter how you say it, I hate it.
I found myself channeling my mother as I announced I was the parent and they would not tell me no.
To which they replied, you guessed it, no. Smart asses.
I've decided the negative response should be more complicated to say. Multi syllable with the weird little dots over several of its letters.
Just so kids can't say it easily and early on.
Why would anyone make such an unpleasant word one of the easiest words for a small child to say?
And how in god's name do I make them stop?
I can't exactly tell hem no
That would make me a hypocrite, wouldn't it?

1 comment:

Tara said...

"You are not big enough, strong enough, nor old enough to say that too me". Just be prepared for them to turn what ever room you are in at the moment into a WWE ring in order to prove you wrong...