A few years ago, after reading about a similar idea in a magazine, we started having “Yes Days”. On our refrigerator there is (among many, many, many other things) the “Yes Day” list: a piece of colored paper where I write down the fun things my kids want to do. These are mostly activities my kids ask to do that we cannot do at the very moment they ask. “Can we make a ginger bread house?” “Can we have a sleep over on the living room floor?” “Can we take a boat ride around San Francisco?” All are activities I am happy to do with my kids but I need time to plan. I was tired of saying “not today” all the time so we made the “Yes Day” list. Every time they ask to do some thing I write it on the list. Then a couple of times a month we pick “Yes Days” on the calender. The kids get to choose an activity from the list they want to do for the Yes Day and I have some time to plan. Some items have been put on the list over and over again (making gingerbread houses for example, we do this year round) and other items have been on the list for almost a year because they sounded good one day but not any more (my son wanted to spray paint a plastic sword). We’ve used the list to see new sights in our area and to try craft projects from magazines and school.
-Cassie, CA
Fantastic. I love it b/c I am always saying “Yes, remind me of that later” and then we don’t remember it.