Parenting Tip #31 What Part of No Don't You Understand?

What part of NO, don’t you understand? Have you brushed your teeth and made your bed yet? Have you finished your chores? Piano practicing done yet? Because I said so!
The above questions/statements are common in a mother’s repertoire of everyday conversation. But one week many years ago, I was sick and tired of saying the same thing over and over again to every child. So I got ingenious—I wrote each statement on a piece of construction paper, punched two holes at the top, then threaded a piece of yarn through the holes and wore the stack of papers as a necklace around my neck. Woa-lah! Everything I needed to say all day was right there hanging around my neck. Now instead of wasting my valuable breath, I just went up to a child, whipped through my papers until I found the right saying and held it in front of his eyes, smiling gleefully while he read my question. Then I pointed him in the right direction and went looking for another child.

We had a lot of fun that week. If I didn’t happen to be wearing my “necklace” and an incident or question arose, I ran and quickly put it on my neck and showed my comment without uttering a sound.

Looking back on that week, if I had the chance to do it over again, I would add some pages to my necklace. I would add “Thanks for doing your chores” and “You’re awesome” but most important I would add a page saying, “I love you!” and I’d be sure to put that one on top.