"NO!!" - The Power of Saying 'No'

“NO” wonder one of the first words children learn to say is “NO”. As children start to explore their world, and reach for things that may cause them harm, we firmly tell them “NO”, and remove them from the danger zone. They hear the high-pitch tone in their parent’s or caretaker’s voice and experience the power the word “NO” has and soon “NO” becomes the game! What happens from the time we learned the word “NO” was acceptable, to the time we were told clearly that it was not.

​My sister, Betty, and I talked about this years ago in reference to our indulgences to food, and why we say “YES”, when we really mean “NO”. Our dad was a wonderful “Good Samaritan” to his friends, neighbors, to his workplace and to strangers. He always said yes, and ALL the time put these worthy folk before his wife and children. We also learned from both our parents to respect our elders, and not to question authority. Parental programming begins in our house of origin where there are lots of variables in our own personal experiences and perceptions.

Some of this programming I brought into my own children’s life, as I parented as I knew, and as I grew in understanding the human condition, I too changed my ways. The biggest difference between myself, and my parents is that I learned to speak up and out, and communicated my errs with my own children, and became a better example for them, as I learned to say, “NO MORE”!

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The following poem speaks volumes in what we should be
teaching our children, and perhaps mostly our daughters…

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In honor and respect for my own daughter, Sharon Mitchell.

Please pause before saying yes, and know “No”, means “No” whether you are the receiver of the message, or the one delivering the message.

Author - Linda Mitchell

Social advocate, author of “Saving Daisy”, founder and partner of The Tree of Health Center. Linda continues to share her wisdom through her personal experiences and the consciousness of MARCI®, a path to enlightenment. MARCI® is an acronym for Mindfulness, Awareness, Responsibility, Compassion and Intuition.