“No, son, you can’t have any broccoli, you just had chips.”

“No. You can’t brush your teeth, I’ve already done it.”

I’m sorry… pardon?

Sometimes I hear myself as if I’m on the outside looking in and when I opened my mouth to speak it made so much more sense than it did once the words actually left my mouth.

Why on earth would I not want to encourage my son’s excitement about brushing his teeth himself? What would possess me to say no to a second helping of broccoli under any circumstances?

I sometimes have to take a step back as a parent and re-evaluate my reasons for saying no to everything. Every so often I feel like life has been an endless stream of barking and no’s without as much joy as parenthood is supposed to bring.

Usually those are the times when I’m focused on my own wants.

I can’t be bothered to clean up after letting a 3 year old get his own milk from a 4L jug. I don’t want to put all my stuff down just so I can pick him up to press the elevator button himself and then try and scoop my stuff back up before the door opens. I don’t always offer the grace to wait while he puts his own shoes on or the patience to wait while he looks for whatever toy he’s fixated on. There is no shortage of similar scenarios when parenting a pre-schooler.

I can see why he gets frustrated sometimes… it must be tough to have no control over your life.

Mom needs to loosen the reigns sometimes.