Children – Generate happiness by saying yes

Happy Ashley and her happy snails

If you’re like many parents you might find yourself saying “no” to your children quite often. Now there are definitely good reasons to say no — especially when what they’re asking is not in line with deeper-level guidelines which are important in life.

However, there are quite a lot of requests and desires that don’t seem to carry “meaning of life” level ramifications.

My five-year-old daughter, Ashley, really gets attached to little creatures. She’s got such a mothering and tender heart, and recently she just loves to mother . . . snails.

Well, I’m writing this after just stepping outside and taking a few moments from my really important work flow to help Ashley put two little snails in a jar (with a nice, comfortable bedding of leaves and grass of course).

My first inclination when my wife (who was on her way out with the kids) called me from downstairs to let me know Ashley wanted to stay home because she wants to take care of a couple snails she found outside was, “NO WAY! That’s CRAZY! She wants to stay home for THAT?! I don’t want snails in the house ANYWAY!”

Well, perhaps I would’ve said that if I’d have thought things through a bit more or if Anya hadn’t been pressed for time to get to an appointment. As it was, I found myself closing the computer, punching some holes in the lid of a large jar, and stepping outside to find my very happy daughter with her very happy snails.

Seeing those happy smiles reminded and caused me to reflect on this principle I’m sharing with you now.

The next time your little bundle of joy has a request and you’re about to say no — take a moment to consider the earth shaking repercussions if you were to actually say yes.  Again, I’m not talking about the “Daddy, can I paint the refrigerator green?” type of request — I’m rather talking about the simple and innocent requests that don’t have “WHAT was that EXPLOSION?!!” type of repercussions.  I think you know what I mean.

This week’s project:  Try saying “yes” to at least a few of those types of questions.  See if it generates a few extra smiles. :)