Why Not?

Kaitlyn and Matthew catching rain

All the kids getting wet

Jonathan

Christiana, Joshua and Kaitlyn

Matthew

So many times I find myself saying "No"to my kids when they ask to do things. Not because they shouldn't do it but because of the inconvenience that it causes me and I just don't feel like dealing with it. Well, I'm now trying to do better.

I can't tell you the number of times my kids have asked to play in the rain and I said "No" because I didn't want to deal with all the wet kids that would come tracking dirt and water into my house, in wet clothes that would need to be changed. Then I stop and think, how many times as a kid that I wanted to play in the rain and how much fun it would have been. Then I start thinking, "Why not?" I mean really, there's no reason to say "No" except my inconvenience, and how much fun would the kids have if I just said "Yes." It's really not that much extra work and why deny them of the fun I always wanted to have when I was a kid.

So Monday I finally gave in and let them play in the rain. They had so much fun. Their smiles and laughter were worth the little bit of mess they made when they came in and to be perfectly honest, it wasn't that much of a mess. I just handed each one a towel when they came in and had them change their clothes. Wet stuff went directly into the washing machine and that was it.

How many times do we as parents tell our kids "No" when there is really no reason why they can't do as they request? I'm not saying that we need to tell our kids "Yes" to everything, but do we really need to tell them "No" as often as we do?