Saying Yes instead of No

I was struck today at how often children say 'no' to things we want them to do and how much frustration it can cause with parents and children alike. I am hugely grateful that due to a random experiment I carried out on my now 3 year old that I managed to mostly get around this problem. My theory was that small children are like parrots, coping everything we do and say, so if we are forever saying, no don't do that, no don't climb up there - the first word they hear is no - so no wonder they are going to say no a lot! Instead of saying no, I just used to say something like, "yes, we can do that later but not now", or "why don't I help you with that", or "I have a feeling that... might happen if you do what you are about to do, why don't we do it like that" etc etc etc. It paid off. My son said and still says yes more than no - although today he did say no about 10 times in a row! Anyway, food for thought. May love and grace fulfil your families xxxx