No! No! No! No!

When my kids were very young, the word 'no' became common place in our house.

The more the kids realized we had gotten used to hearing it; the more they said it.

When health professionals visited my house, they would comment on how well behaved the kids were. It's a shame that they didn't see what happened when they weren't here.

Demons only show themselves, when there are no witnesses!

One morning, we were getting ready to get the kids to school, and some days we were very lucky to get them there on time.

"Danny, find your shoes!" I told my son, who was happily playing with his aeroplane, oblivious to the fact he was going to be late.

Daniel let out a scream that could crack even the most invincible walls on a house.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

I took the aeroplane of him, calmly.

"Now, please."

Well, I tried.

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" He bellowed, so loud that the whole street could hear him.

I ended up having to carry him to school, bare feet; though I did put his shoes in his bag, so that he could put them on at school.

When school ended, I picked him up.

"Danny, put your coat on; it's freezing out here," I told him.

"NOOOOOOO!" He bellowed again.

This was starting to be the whole story of my parenthood, with every single child. Even the youngest managed to learn to say no to everything.

That evening, I had a chat with my husband about teaching the kids to do as they were told. We decided to sit down with them, and talk about the importance of saying 'yes' to the things that were important.

We asked Danny in particular,

"Why do you say no to everything we ask you to do?"

He replied with,

"Because I don't want to do anything, and Mum and Dad like it when I say no!"

We thought about this for a while.

It seemed that Danny was getting a kick out of being told off, and our reactions; but what were we supposed to do?

Saying yes to everything wasn't an option.... .

We came up with a plan.

Every time Danny refused to do something we asked, we refused to do something he asked, whether important or not.

Cruel, but it worked better than the 'patience' advice we had been given by professionals.

It was a day before our holiday, and we knew that Danny loved going on those.

We also knew that he would want to go to the club too.

Danny refused to pack his clothes, so I decided to turn my 'no' into a humor.

"Fine, if you don't pack your clothes, Danny. None of us are packing anything, Dad's not driving, and we will all go to the club, naked!" I told him.

"You can't do that. I will call the police!" He told us.

I took another humorous side to this.

I picked up the phone, and called his dad from the other room; and I told Danny I had called the police, and they had agreed with what we had said.

BAM!

Just like that, Danny began packing his clothes, and we got our holiday!

I don't believe in manipulation, but sometimes doing things in the way that professionals guide us as parents does not always work, and we have to find ways to get out of some situations fast or we will never get anywhere.

I used a gentle 'little white lie' tactic, that many childcare professionals would not agree with, but if it works...

It's an eye for an eye!

On that note... .

"Kids, Parents get sick of hearing 'no!'