I read an article about having a “Yes Day” last week and it sounded like a fun idea. After all, we don’t live near the ocean or the mountains. I didn’t think my 4 year old would be looking up the nearest zip line adventure, so I felt pretty safe that anything she asked for would be easy enough.  

If you haven’t tried an experiment in saying yes to your children, you should definitely give it a try. So much of my time as “Mom” ends up being time as the “boss”. I’m the chauffeur, the cook, the maid, the nurse, and a lot of other titles that parents, grandparents, and anybody responsible for children are very familiar with. And in that long list of duties and responsibilities, I sometimes forget about having fun, about being a friend. When my daughter and I agreed to the Yes Day, it placed me firmly in her camp, a confidante, and a mischief maker. Sure, some of her suggestions required a little redirection before the “yes” was granted. We don’t actually have a pet kangaroo at this point, but we did purchase our family membership to Ft. Wayne Children’s Zoo, made plans to head there opening weekend, and then spent a fun hour hopping around the backyard.

We spent time eating candy and cookies, crawling under beds and behind furniture and sneaking up on unsuspecting family members with rascally intentions. We drove to the park and I pushed her much too high for comfort on the big girl swing. We played tag for an hour straight, and I spent an inordinate amount of time being “it”. We laughed and got dirty and shared lots of hugs.  We didn’t buy a single toy. I don’t doubt that if I’d been so foolish to plan a trip to Toys R Us on “Yes Day”, we might have had some additions to the playroom. But she didn’t ask. It makes me wonder when the materialism that is such a big part of our adult lives starts infiltrating our plans and wishes. What would you ask for if you had your very own “Yes Day”? I’m Claire, the Afena blog mom. Thanks for reading.