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<\/p>\nI say \u201cno\u201d to my children often.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo you can\u2019t eat that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop hitting your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut the iPad away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The summer stretches in front of me like one long nooooooo toward the horizon that is autumn. With everyone home and up in each other\u2019s business, and long hours of sunlight, it is a wasteland of time with little to no structure built in. And since I know those \u201cno\u2019s\u201d are inevitable, I\u2019m wanting to be intentional about saying \u201cyes.\u201d In fact, I\u2019d like to make it a goal to say \u201cyes\u201d twice as often as I say \u201cno.\u201d So I\u2019m making a commitment to myself to say \u201cyes\u201d as frequently as I can.<\/p>\n
Yes \u2026<\/p>\n
Yes, we can change the living room into a fort, get the train set out, make the sink a bathtub for your toys. Yes, we can paint, make water balloons, bake cookies. Yes, we can make a craft masterpiece with feathers, glitter and beads, or Tupperware castles, and dig tunnels in the garden for fairies.<\/p>\n
Yes, we can invite the neighbor kids over, play that computer game, have a sleepover. Yes, we can listen to that CD in the car for the umpteenth time! Yes, we can scream during the water fight in the backyard, play Power Rangers in the house and sound the horn every time the Rockies get a hit.<\/p>\n
Yes, we can stay up late, sleep in until noon, have dessert before dinner. Yes, we can do the chores later, skip a practice, wear swimsuits all day. Yes, we can skip your sister\u2019s nap, sleep outside, watch movies in bed.<\/p>\n
Yes, we can walk to the park, go for a bike ride, go to the pool. Yes, we can go on a road trip, go camping, go to the library. Yes, we can visit our friends, go for a hike, go get ice cream.<\/p>\n
I can approach this summer with dread or with a sense of adventure. Everyone will be happier if I say \u201cyes\u201d with enthusiasm frequently.<\/p>\n
Will it be more work for me?<\/i> Often, yes.<\/p>\n
Will it cost more?<\/i> It doesn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n
Will I be making memories through a number of small gestures?<\/i> Most certainly.<\/p>\n
Loosening a few self-imposed rules and mixing things up will help those long days move along rather than drag for both my littles and me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alexandra Kuykendall I say \u201cno\u201d to my children often. \u201cNo you can\u2019t eat that.\u201d \u201cStop hitting your sister.\u201d \u201cPut the iPad away.\u201d The summer stretches in front of me like one long nooooooo toward the horizon that is autumn. With everyone home and up in each other\u2019s business, and long hours of sunlight, it is a wasteland […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":12788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,117],"tags":[108,127,26,27,169,101,181,160],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-wellness","tag-adventure","tag-alexandra","tag-family","tag-fun","tag-kids","tag-parenting","tag-reality","tag-thought-provoking"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong> As a mom to four girls, ages 3 to 12, Alexandra Kuykendall\u2019s days are spent washing dishes, driving to and from different schools and trying to find a better solution to the laundry dilemma. She writes to capture the places where motherhood meets everyday life to remember the small, yet significant moments in the midst of the blur. She is the author of The Artist\u2019s Daughter, A Memoir<\/em> <\/a> , a contributor to this year\u2019s Be you, Bravely, An Experiment in Courage and acts as the Specialty Content Editor for MOPS International. A city girl at heart, she makes her home in the shadow of downtown Denver. You can read more of Alex\u2019s everyday thoughts and connect with her at AlexandraKuykendall.com<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhat will you say \u201cyes\u201d to this summer?<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"