Parenting isn't easy and too often I found myself saying no to new adventures. Saying yes to my preschooler's request for breakfast at the playground gave us the chance to make memories and brought us both unexpected joy. #parenting #preschooler #motherhood #sayyes #joy #SAHM #playground #breakfast

How Saying Yes Brought Unexpected Joy

Maybe it was the guilt from being gone 3 days last week at a conference. Maybe it was Little Nugget taking a long nap that cancelled our afternoon park plans the day before. Maybe it was cause it was Tuesday, the only day of the week that we don’t have anything going on. Whatever the reason, I found myself saying yes when my 4 year old asked if we could have breakfast at the playground on Tuesday.

She was so excited.

When I left the gym that Tuesday morning, it was cold and foggy. Driving home, I was already thinking of ways I could get out of it. Legoland? San Diego Zoo? Fake an injury?

But it was the first thing she talked about when she woke up and I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her. Once Dad was off to work, we grabbed some Starbucks breakfast and headed to the park.

It was cold. It was wet. It was empty.

saying yes to breakfast at the park big nugget.jpg

It was fantastic.

The girls had so much fun. Ear to ear smiles the entire time. And with no other kids there, I could really hear their squeals of joy.

breakfast at the park swings

It made me realize that I say no to things too often. For really no good reason other than I don’t want to be bothered. Saying yes doesn’t have to be all the time. It doesn’t have to be daily. But saying yes can bring unexpected joy.

Was it hard to get to the playground at 8am vs. 3pm? Not really. In fact, it was way better with no crowds and a lot less stress.

breakfast at the park little slide

Lesson learned for this Mom, that we open ourselves up to joy when we say yes. I made my kids happy which in turn makes me happy. We had fun. We got some exercise. We set a good tone for the day. All because I said yes.

You won’t find me saying yes to everything, everyday but it will serve as a reminder of what an impact it can have. That sometimes I need to stop and think before my knee jerk reaction of saying no because I could be missing out on some incredible memory making.

breakfast at the park

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11 Comments

  1. I love that you did this! It can be so ‘hard’ to just let go and say Yes, with all the other ‘things’ I should be ‘doing’. I find that in moments like this, there is such feeedom and peace when I let it all go! Way to go mama!

    1. TOTALLY! And thank you. It won’t happen all the time but I need to let it happen more often.

  2. I completely agree with you! We are used to saying no. Sometimes it’s because it’s more convenient, or sometimes we just aren’t open to what’s being presented. Saying yes more often can lead to unexpected surprises ! Glad you said yes !

    1. Thank you! I find myself saying no a lot of times without even thinking about it. Need to take a breath more before I immediately shut something down. 4 years olds can have good ideas once in awhile. 🙂

  3. Love this so Much! So glad you had that experience, the little moments are where we learn to be truly mindful of ourselves and our family. So much joy hiding in plain sight!

    1. Thank you! AND I LOVE THAT! Joy hiding in plain sight. Brene Brown talks a lot about that, it’s really resonated with me.

  4. I love the way you share this, not with a message of “therefore we should say yes to our children all of the time and put our needs aside and feel guilty when we don’t” but just a simple, let’s try to say yes here and there when we’d otherwise be inclined to shut it down. So much more realistic than some of the posts about how we should be present and available all the time! 😉

    1. Thank you! I’m all about realism around here. I know I can’t be present all the time but I love when life throws me reminders of how great it can be. 🙂

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