I have a really bad habit of saying no to my kids. 

Let me explain.

Yesterday, we went to a fairly large public park in Knoxville. We were meeting a friend and her son and decided we would start at the playground and then move up to a splash pad later.

Foster had been there previously and knew there was a pier on a lake not far away. He had hung out with some other boys a few days before and really wanted to go check out the pier again.

I told him that was fine. I just let him know that if we weren’t at the playground when he got back, we would be at the splash pad up the hill.

He trotted off happily.

I could have handled that differently. I could have demanded that he stay with us, where I could see him, at this playground for small children.

Instead, he came up to the splash pad about 30 minutes later and told me he had helped some guy start his jet ski and watched some other guys fishing but “they didn’t catch anything.”

That yes didn’t cost me a penny. But it meant the world to him. He went, alone, without a cell phone, and made it back alive.

Last night, a neighbor kid was over playing and it started to storm while we were outside burning some tree limbs and playing.

Foster asked to get the umbrellas we have. You know what I said? No.

I bought those at the dollar store for less than 10 bucks and I said NO.

Sometimes I am such an idiot. Imagine if I had said yes? If I had just let them have the umbrellas, there is no telling what they could have experienced or learned, what they could have created or even if they would have broken them and learned from that.

So from now on, I am going to try and say YES.

Well, as long as the thing they want to use or play with is worth less than 50 bucks.