Yesterday we picked up our 7 year old granddaughter from school. Every question we asked was answered with an enthusiastic "Yep!" Which was followed by either Grandpa or Grandma saying, "Yes, ma'am." Dutifully agreeing she would say "yes, ma'am." Not as much enthusiasm, but compliant. She got a little better about saying it when we mused about what Santa wanted to hear - yep or yes ma'am.
This child is the one who takes forever to wake up in the mornings and who buries her head in Grandma's side under the blanket trying to ignore the fact that school is waiting. This is the one who says they had Thanksgiving Dinner at school but when asked if she ate the cranberry sauce says, "Is that what that stuff was? Nope!" And who proudly announced that they had pumpkin pie. But when asked if she ate it said, "Nope!" But who ate 3 bowls of Grandma's chicken and noodles. Now that's the way to a Grandma's heart. :)
Then we picked up our 2 1/2 year old granddaughter from daycare. Every question we asked was answered with a loud, "NO!" You want your coat on? "NO!" You want to go home? "NO!" You want to... "NO!" All of a sudden Yep wasn't so bad!
What exactly is it that kicks in around 2 1/2 that makes us love the word NO? Do you think it's genetic? Do we have a gene that programs NO into our vocabulary? Or do they teach it at daycare? Couldn't be that because they do it even when they don't go to daycare. Is it subliminally implanted in their Barney movies, or Elmo, or Disney? Or maybe it's a drug secretly put into milk....no, probably not.
Of course, this is the same child who runs and takes a flying leap into Grandpa's lap to snuggle as soon as she gets up in the morning. It's easy to forgive a little NO! And that's certainly the way to a Grandpa's heart. :)
Ahhh kids and their "NO"'s...I know that well...all too well!
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THANK YOU so much for the sweet card and hankerchief. It really brightened my day, and my guest room dresser. I love all things like that.
You're the best Marlene! :)
~Liz
www.AGiveawayADay.blogspot.com
Hi Marlene,
ReplyDeleteI think it comes with us saying "NO,don't touch that, NO, put that down, etc!!!" to them at this age so much, they just think it is a very important word. Hope your having a great visit.
Blessings,
Bonnie
I think they're just testing their (and our) limits! My 3 yo granddaughter is STILL using that word. And it does test my limits! But I love her anyway! Someday she'll grow up and I'll miss her being so little and such a cutie-pie.
ReplyDeleteI think the word No just comes naturally! Funny how that goes! Your grand-daughters sound so sweet. I wish I lived closer to my grandsons so that I could experience some of this. *sniff *sniff
ReplyDeleteBut don't you love them!!!
ReplyDeleteDid not mean for the first comment to sound hateful...I meant in spite of their words they use you love them so much any way.
ReplyDeleteJust like the Lord loves me when I say some things are aren't what he would like to hear.
Grandkids...one of life's greatest blessings. They can be trying at times though, but oh those hugs, kisses and sweet little faces just warm my heart and thrill my soul. And after they have been at my house for a few hours, the relief when they go home is very nice too, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say what Bonnie said about them hearing NO so much that, that is probably why they use it. And when we told them NO, it probably wasn't always in a soft voice either. Hee hee.
ReplyDeleteChildren live what they learn!
Your grandbabies sound wonderful, and a joy to have around.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Michelle
hi marlene, you dropped by my blog once on my cat wich was a while ago but im getting caut up. i don't know why but my cosin a three year old won't do anything unless mom is invaulved or its realy fun for him.hahaha!!! but he still is a cute little bud that you want to be on your side.
ReplyDeleteThey do love that word No!!! They sound like sweet, adorable little girls. Have fun with them! (granma's chicken and noodles sounds pretty good to me!)
ReplyDeleteI don't have any grandkids yet,but can't wait to hear all those No's and Yeps.
ReplyDeleteWe did a little experiment especially with our oldest. We decided to find other ways of saying "no" to them early on, to avoid them parroting it back to us. I'd say that to a large extent it works. We were amazed at how many times we heard parents say, "No no no nonono!" to their little ones. We probably would have too, had we not been intentional. It was a little harder with the second one for some reason. Anyway, the bigger problem is that they ignore us and don't respond at all! ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't believe the sweet little something that came in my mailbox today, Marlene! Happy me!
Marlene, your post on "Yep" and "No" was very timely. We are in the process of trying to teach our three-year-old granddaughter Avery to say "Yes Ma'am" and "Yes Sir," and when repetition didn't work, I came up with the idea of giving her an M&M every time she remembered on her own to say "Ma'am" or "Sir." We just started this today, and she was rewarded with two or three M&Ms, which is better than nothing, I guess. This is also the child who said she wasn't going to eat any spaghetti for supper tonight and literally cleaned her plate.
ReplyDeleteShe's our little Miss Sunshine, though, even though she has us pulling our hair out sometimes ... lol
THose precious grandchildren. WHo would have thought??? Aren't the special? We have three 9, 8, and 4 years. They all went thru that "no" stage. I will have to say that they are very good about yes ma'm, yes sir, etc. Their parents are pretty strict about this. I think it makes me prouder of the parents than the kiddos when I hear it. Of course, they do forget sometimes--especially when the parents are not around.
ReplyDeleteTHose precious grandchildren. WHo would have thought??? Aren't the special? We have three 9, 8, and 4 years. They all went thru that "no" stage. I will have to say that they are very good about yes ma'm, yes sir, etc. Their parents are pretty strict about this. I think it makes me prouder of the parents than the kiddos when I hear it. Of course, they do forget sometimes--especially when the parents are not around.
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