Hello fellow travelers,
I’ve been sitting with a thought lately, sparked by a small moment with my little sprout. The other morning, the rain was tapping at the window, and I was excited to go on our walk. I brought out his little boots, and was met with a firm, clear ‘no.’
My first instinct was that familiar feeling of frustration, like coming up against a tiny, immovable wall. But I paused and just watched him. He wasn’t trying to be difficult; he was utterly absorbed in the tower of blocks he was building. His ‘no’ wasn’t about the boots or the rain, it was a ‘yes’ to his own world, his own focus in that moment.
It struck me then that this powerful little word isn’t just a barrier they put up, but perhaps the first brick they lay in building their own sense of self. It’s their declaration of ‘I am.’ This shift in perspective is helping me see these moments not as battles to be won, but as conversations to be had, even if they are wordless.
It has me wondering: how do you all perceive this phase? When you hear that ‘no,’ what do you see it as a ‘yes’ to?
