The "Sure" Game

Tomorrow is this little girl's birthday, so today I put in some good practice being nice and saying yes to her constant, "inexhaustible, unstoppable, repetitive, and nagging demands!" (name that movie)

I think my kids would agree that most of the time I my initial reaction to anything they say is "No." or "Not right now" or "After you clean your room..." and Abi and Ethan are the two that ask me the most questions, so they get most of my negative answers.

So, today we started playing the "Sure!" game!

I asked Ethan to unload the dishwasher and he just walked away, I said "So is that a 'no'?  Why don't we play the 'Sure' game?  You try really hard to say 'sure' to the things I ask you, and I'll try to say 'sure' to the things you ask me."  It worked pretty well for most of the day.  The kids cleaned the kitchen quickly saying "sure" with a smile and laughing at themselves that they were allowing themselves to be duped/tricked by this game ("You guys!  We have to say Yes!"), and I shared my food with the kids nicely saying "sure!" and when they asked if I'd turn on the sprinklers so they could play (right around bedtime) I said Sure!  Then I asked "And after it's done will you guys go and quickly get ready for bed?"  "SURE!" they all said.  And I'm sure I'll be saying "sure" tonight at scripture reading when Ethan asks me to rub his back.  We'll see if it's makes our home have a happy positive spirit instead of a negative one with all the "No"-s I usually release into the atmosphere here on the average day.