My “Saying Yes” Bag

As a mom of a 3 and 6-year-old, it often feels like my days are filled with ‘no’. No, don’t do that. That’s not safe. No, not right now. It can be exhausting as a parent to live each day like this. When I stop to think about it, it is probably draining for the kids too. 

Think how it would feel if, all day long, someone told you “No, you can’t have coffee to start the day” or “Put your phone away, no more texting your mom friends” or “No, you can’t take a walk by yourself through the neighborhood for a mental break”. Brutal, right?

Many times, the no’s that I give my kids are essential for their health and well-being. No running in parking lots, no eating 40 gummy worms, and no staying up super late on school nights. But sometimes, my answer to their requests are no’s because, well, it’s just an automatic response or it just feels easier than saying yes.

Enter The Yes Bag

I decided I wanted to find ways to make it easier for me to say yes. Sometimes, a yes can be a little more complicated than a no. It can be a little more messy, wet, sticky, or expensive. To make the yes’s a little more harmless and easy to roll with, I started keeping a “Yes Bag” in the trunk of my car. The bag contains all sorts of things that can make any day out and about just a little simpler.

The Contents

• A beach towel for wet slides during early morning dew playground visits. Also, perfect for drying off kids who beg to let a lawn sprinkler get them during a walk on a hot day. Or for the kiddo who falls into a creek after getting just a little too close while looking for tadpoles.
• A bathing suit for each kid for quick visits to the local pond on hot days.
• A change of clothes for everyone (even mom) for when a visit to the ice cream stand gets a little messy.
• Baby wipes even though I don’t have little babies anymore because you can clean up just about anything with those!
• Extra Ziploc bags to contain the wet clothes and other mess after the fun. 
• These bags are for the kiddo whose tummy can’t handle the curvy back roads that lead to epic hikes.
• A few dollars for chance encounters with the ice cream truck or the local hot dog stand that is cash only.
• A handful of quarters for parking meters (for the remaining few that aren’t paid by the app) or the world’s slowest merry-go-round in front of Market Basket.
• A travel potty for those trips that end up being a little longer than expected, or for when your potty-dancing three-year-old takes one look at the gross public restrooms and absolutely refuses to step foot inside (ask me how I know). This one technically isn’t in the bag, but you better believe I never leave home without it!

What The Yes Bag Is Not

Just because I have this magical bag with me, I don’t give in to each and every demand from my kids. I still hold boundaries around our resources like time, money, and energy. But, for those times I can give my kids the gift of a yes, the yes bag makes it much easier on me.

What are your go-to items that make life easier as a parent and let you say ‘yes’ to your kids more?