Parent Tip, Follow a NO with a YES!

Do your kids drive you crazy?

Are they constantly finding new ways to do the same thing you just said NO to?

Try this, Follow a NO with a YES!

This is one of the parenting rules I live by. I strive to model the behavior I want in my children. We often tell our kids to, " not be the problem but be the solution". So with the, follow a NO with a YES, we try to look at the situation and find a way for the kids to get what they need but in a way that is safe. Like with the sweets, we don't want the kids to have a lot of artificial colors and other things, that become free radicals, in their body and so we found the Yummy Earth Lollipops!

This past month our youngest child and only daughter Eowyn, has developed this need to get higher. First she found the joy of stools, she was getting into everything and getting dangerous! We took the stools away, but she began looking for anything to give her what she needed. Cups, drums, recycling, boxes anything could be turned upside down and become a stool. She would listen for someone to open the bathroom door and as quick as lightning she would have the bathroom stool and be running for what ever she wanted that was out of reach.

Our house was starting to become this crazy free form art sculpture with tables and furniture being piled high with objects she turned into stools. We needed to find a YES something she could climb on but still be safe. I remembered the joy she had with the chair tunnel her brothers made for her and how that day I said less “NO’s!”

I then had an idea!My Solution.....drum roll please.....

An outdoor toddler climbing cube.

We had one packed away after the boys grew out of it a few years ago and had upgraded to bigger ones for them. We worked together doing Family Work and cleaned it up and got it ready for her. Now it sits in the middle of the family room and she can climb until her heart’s content! Happy girl, happy mommy, and happy house!