Have a Yes Day

Being negative all the time really weighs on a person. When you are always saying something negative, or being told something negative, it will affect your mood greatly. When you have kids, you will often find yourself telling them that you can not do certain things or that they need to stop doing whatever naughty thing they have gotten into. You will likely find yourself in a bad mood from all of this negativity.

A great way to get out of this rut is to have a “Yes” day with your child. Rather than saying no to your child about everything, you instead tell them yes. Your child wants to watch their favorite television show a bit longer - go ahead. They want to have ice cream before eating dinner - sure, go for it. They want to stay up past bedtime? Yes, they can. Let them choose what to do for the day.

Obviously, you need to make sure that you set a few parameters around your Yes day. First off, make sure that they know you’re not doing anything that is dangerous or could be harmful. For example, they cannot drink alcohol on their yes day. You’re not walking out in front of cars blindfolded. And you’re not trying to hit other people with rocks. In other words, you’re keeping it safe and legal.

The second rule is that it must be possible to do. They want to go to the moon? Well, that’s probably not happening today. They want to visit Africa? Maybe another time. Some things are simply physically impossible to do while some things can’t happen in the current day. If it’s not possible at the current moment, consider trying to make it happen another time if you can (such as that trip to Africa).

There’s a third rule that you may want to implement and consider and that is setting a spending limit for the day. If you have a younger child, they likely won’t ask for anything too crazy in terms of spending. However, as your child grows older, there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll want to do some more expensive things or buy expensive things. Whatever the case, make sure they know the limits in terms of spending if there are any.

You might think that your child is going to go wild and ask for crazy things. It’s very possible that they will. Some kids have absolutely wild imaginations and things they want to do, and you may find that there are a lot of things that you can’t do for them or with them because of it. Of course, you’ll never know unless you give it a try - make sure that they know and understand the rule up front though.

You may actually be surprised at some of the simple requests that your child has. They want to go to their favorite park. They want to play a game on your phone you don’t normally let them. They want to have extra screen time. They want candy or ice cream or something else unhealthy. Ultimately, most kids will want simple and basic things that you can easily accommodate if you simply say yes.

Having a yes day is a fun way for you and your child to spend a day. Give it a try and see how it goes - you may be surprised how much you both enjoy the positivity.