non.

So. Many of you might have seen my recent Facebook status update where I lamented my baby's use of the word "no". He says it all the time. Many of you gave me some good advice about decreasing the amount of times that I say no to him during the day in hopes that he would use it less too. I thought about it. I gave it a try - mostly with poorly constructed positive sentences. And I've come to a conclusion.

I disagree.

I've been reading Bringing up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman (read her article in the WSJ here) which talks a lot about the differences in parenting styles of French and American families. I'm only about 1/4 of the way through the book but what she says just makes sense to me. The French are all about teaching their children patience and setting limits. How can we set limits for them if we never tell them "non"? I'm not interested in helping to mold the most creative child in the world - If I can raise the Shrimp to be patient, self-confident, spiritual, charitable, and hard working then I will have done my job. Ok that's a lot of stuff....if I can do half of that then I'll have done my job. If he wants to tell me "no" he can go right ahead and say it all day long. It's annoying but I'm going to do what's best for him whether he likes it or not. This is Mama's house and I will show him that I am in charge in a loving but firm way.

 I won't bore you too much more but this book is really great and it makes me feel empowered as a mother. This is Mama's house.

Mama's house.