What mother really wants to say no to their child? I mean maybe it's just new mothers or maybe it's just me! But when my daughter is misbehaving or running(crawling) around getting into things I can't help but fear that word no a bit more then her. Mind you, she is nearly 10 months old and she is just beginning to understand what the word "no" means. And followed by my rather "mean mommy" attempts to say "no! Lily don't do that!" are the sobs and very irresistible lip pout. How am I to resist picking my daughter up after she unintentionally makes me feel quilty?
Quite frankly it saddens me to say no for several reasons. One being, the fact that she will soon learn to say this word to me, meaning I can kiss authority good bye. Not really but it will be hard to turn that table around.
Second reason is of course that face that many parents find hard to resist. Every time I tell my daughter "no", I find myself picking her up. She grips me tightly and has a grin on her face saying, "I win". Which she indeed did because I had given in.
Today however I tried a new and surprisingly affective approach on trying to instill this "no" meaning for my daughter. Instead of stating just the word in a firm manner, I say it nicely while keeping my emotions on my face strictly "caring". It sounds silly but Lily actually listened and crawled away from the toy laughing! It may have worked or may not have, though I think I will continue to do this method and see how things go!
Until next time!
Natalie
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