The Summer of Yes

My little boy came up to me the other day and asked a crazy question. The question was "Can I have some ice cream" ? It was a crazy question because it was ten in the morning.

Anyone that knows me, even a little bit, knows that I am one for rules, traditions and routines. I think that they bring stability and harmony to a home and after all .....I am a first born! :) (We firstborns like to run the show and as a mama it has served me well.)

Until this summer.

This summer I have come to realize that there is power in saying yes to a child.

I looked at my little boy who was practically vibrating with excitement when I told him that he could indeed have the ice cream at ten in the morning. (After looking at me like I was pod person who just looked like his mama.)

I have to be honest that my gut reaction was to say "no" and I had a list prepared of the reasons why. Then I paused. Its summertime and we had no where to go. Was the lunch police going to come and ticket me? I thought it sounded good myself. So I got out three bowls and started a scoopin.

I explained that this was not an everyday thing but a special "yes thing". (I don't think he really cared what it was as long as he got the ice cream) We sat down and happily ate our ice cream talking about what we should do this week and what books we still needed to read in our library basket. There was giggling and ice cream spilled and lots and lots of chipped tooth grinning going on in my small kitchen. I loved every minute of it.

It got me thinking....how often do I say no to things that really do not matter? Is my saying no so much preventing him from hearing me say no to the REALLY important things?

I will tell you that we did have a nutritious lunch that day but it was pushed back a little later and he ate as much of it as if the lunch and ice cream had exchanged places. "Hmmmmm" I thought...interesting.

Yesterday, I let my 2 kids and their cousin make my whole front room into a fort with clean sheets that had just been washed. I smiled as I heard them plan what they would take in and what supplies were still needed. I would have to wash the sheets again. I would have to take it down and clean up said supplies. One of my funnest memories as a child, however, was being over my friends house and her mom letting us do this in her living room. It was as magical to me as Narnia.

Hearing whispered plans and hushed giggles coming from the living room made my heart skip a beat at the power of the word yes.

Of course I cannot say yes to everything but I have decided that this is the "summer of yes" for this mama.

Is it wrong that I am actually having as much fun as they are?