"no" and other thing my kids hate hearing

Actually that's the only thing they don't like to hear.

me
"Honey, please make your bed."
her
"But Mom, I already did."

me
"Love, have you finished your veggies?"
her
"Oh yea, I forgot to ask, can I have more carrots?"

me
"Sweetie, I really would like you to clean up you toys."
her
"Mom, I did clean up, Little Man made the new mess"

me
"Would you like fruit or cookies with that?"

her
"Can I have both but the fruit first so I can have enough room in my tummy for it. But I only
really want the strawberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes, bananas, mangoes and papayas.
I really don't like the honeydew."

me
"I really liked it when you were looking out for your brother at preschool today."

her
"Aww thanks, Mom. I watched my friend look after his brother during regroup and now I can do a better job taking care of Little Man. And he's my brother, I'm supposed to look after him. He can't do it by himself."

Yes, The Girl is close to perfect. But there are moments when the wiggles are so overwhelming that she just can't sit still. When she has too much energy to expel and it's the end of a long day and I just haven't the energy to run around as well. When she relives that tantrums she saw at school during the day at home just to (what I think) get a reaction out of me. I know she's testing it out on me but it's just a bit annoying when she's not normally whiny and then she comes home and starts whining.

The Dad to the Girl
"When you hear 'don't' what do you really hear?"

Her
"Well this ear (points to the left ear) hears don't do something. But this ear (points to the right ear) doesn't hear the word 'don't'"

The Dad
"Can the ear that hears the don't talk to the other ear so you can hear what we asked you not to do."

Her
"Huh?"

Then, I got dropped off at a local coffee shop to pick up a cup and the family drove around the block. While driving, they did some 'practice runs.' When I got back into the car, this was the dialogue going on....

The Dad
"When I say 'don't run', what does that mean?"
The Girl
"Walk. This is fun, let's do more."

We drove for a few blocks playing that game.

Isn't that what parenting is all about?

Establish the rules of the game.
Be fair.
Be honest.
Know your opponent (in this case, you kids)
Know yourself (or at least know when to quit)
Know when to take a break
Substitutions may be needed (I can't do a 24/7 shift...it's just not good for my sanity)

We can all use a coach . (Tiger and Phil have them. I had them throughout my time as a wanna be volleyball and track 'star' --- i had my glory days)

Set Limits.

Everyone can't be a 'winner.'
(I don't feel like I always need to be right {if the Husband were to read this, he'd beg to differ}. I should say, in terms of the kids, I don't need to always be right. They can call me out on breaking a rule. I will do what I ask them to do. Acknowledge that I did something wrong, apologize and move on.

We can't dwell in the negative for too long. Life's too short.

In our house, we like to "start fresh." Even if it's the middle of the day, we'll start over like we all just woke up and it's a new day. It's a clean slate and we won't live in the past. We learn from it but we won't dwell in it. We won't carry over past mistakes. Hey, they're still little. They forget. Adults forget the rules.