Our children are facing an unprecedented number of  choices, most of which are for things they don’t need.  Billions of dollars are spent to appeal to your children  and make them want something that you have to buy. It  makes me think of two questions for parents today. Are you  able to go to the store with your children and not get them  anything they say they want? Do you have unused toys  stuffed into containers at home but your kids still want  more? The answers shouldn’t come as any surprise to us  when we realize how many things are thrust upon our  children through various forms of advertising. You can see  the results of this in our communities where scooters that  were a must for all kids years ago lay dormant in garages.  Why can’t we say no to our kids? Why do our kids need to  have “what everyone else has”?

I have heard explanations from parents such as “well I  don’t want to disappoint him”. Or, “I didn’t have stuff  when I was a kid and I want it to be better for them”. But  if we don’t disappoint our children, when do they learn  disappointment? When do they learn to deal with emotions  around disappointment? When will we learn to face their  feelings of disappointment and not need to “make it up to  them”? If we step back for a moment and look at the  process of saying “no” to our kids we may learn a new  approach to this issue.

The first part of the process is the request. Your  child will ask you for something he or she wants. The  second part is a time of thought – you have to decide yes  or no. Take a moment at this point in the process because  once you decide, there is no going back! “Yes” is always  easier and is certainly ok at times. “No” is harder  because when we say “no” we can expect argument, emotion  and behavior. It is dealing with these three factors in  the process that makes it hard for parents to say “no”. Here’s how to deal with these three factors.

If you think about your decision well enough then  don’t get into an argument. No, means no! Just keep  saying no. Then comes the emotion and the behavior.  Emotion needs understanding. (I know that disappoints you,  I’m sorry about that) and behavior (that means acting out,  crying, tantrums or other kinds of fits) deserve a cold  shoulder no matter how embarrassing!

Using this system our kids learn over time to deal  with disappointment. They ask for less and they turn out  fine – perhaps better than kids who expect to get  everything.

I have seen kids in third world countries such as  Honduras play and interact with a lot less than our kids  have. In our country where we have so much, perhaps all  parents should work on disappointing their kids more. At  the same time if we give our time or resources to good  causes, our kids can learn that it isn’t all about them and  what they get. It is about all of us getting and learning  what we need.