Imagine you’re at work, brewing a hot cup of coffee, adding your desired delicacies when suddenly your boss storms over only to take it from you and tell you, “No. you’ve had too much caffeine today already. You don’t need sugar in there, it’s bad for you.”
Our kids hear “no” so often! And they must feel the way you would in the scenario above. Imagine having no say in what you consume, ever. I know this isn’t a bad thing, so quiet your inner judgement for a minute. I get it, that’s why we are here as parents, to teach them the things that their minds don’t understand yet. We are responsible for making decisions they’re not capable of making. But I want to also be here to have fun, let loose, and say “yes!”
I consider Fridays a cheat day for my kids, a night off if you will. Call it lazy parenting, but I am exhausted after a long week of work, dinners, bath time, t-ball, and tumbling. We keep it simple! I pick up a pepperoni pizza and each of the two older kids get to choose a movie, after fighting over who gets to pick first of course. If they finish a slice of pizza they get to eat TWO (gasp!) desserts and then we pop a bag of popcorn, again fighting over who gets the coveted task of pushing the microwave buttons.
Whether they want to leave their movie and go play with toys, run wildly through the house, or steal my phone to take pictures of each other’s ears I say yes! I don’t say no to anything as long as no one can get hurt and everyone is being nice, which is a struggle for all of us at times.
It has become the most fun little tradition that I share with my kids. I’m certain that I enjoy being a cool mom for one night out of the week just as much as they enjoy the extra freedom.
The Barefoot Hostess 