Love Your Child? Tell Them “No”!

It seems like from the time they began to talk, my kids have never stopped asking my wife and me for things. It’s always, “Dad, can I have a cookie?” or “Mom, can I have a snack?” or, after Mom says, “No”, “Dad, can I have a snack?” The requests are never ending.

As a rookie parent, I first began to give in to these requests. My thinking was, “If I give them a cookie, they’ll shut up.” Because the goal of any parent is to have quiet at home, right? Anyway, I was initially proud of my clever thinking and thought I had this parenting thing figured out. Turns out I was wrong.