Saying YES when I really want to say NO!

I have come to the very sad self-realization that I say no an awful lot to my kids.  I sat down and thought to myself that if they told me no every time I asked them to do something they would, as my dad liked to say, "be in a world of hurt".  I get angry when they tell me no even once.  So why shouldn't they have the right to be frustrated with me when I say no to them at least ten thousand times a day.  They are people too....little people, but still people.  I have decided that I am going to really make an active effort to say YES to my kids on a much more frequent basis.  Obviously I will still say no if I have a REAL reason to say no...like if they ask for a snack right before dinner or Tyler wants to play "just one more hour of Wii" or for a piece of candy for just no reason at all.  But, if Brenna asks to play with Play-doh or paint or make a collage I should really embrace the fact that she wants to be creative rather than thinking of the mess I'm going to have to clean up afterward.  Why tell them no if they want to go outside for a few minutes?  I would normally tell them that it's because it's too cold outside, but the honest answer is because I don't want to take the time to bundle them up, I don't want to clean them up afterward and I don't want to be cold myself.  Boooooo!  Bad Mommy!  Case in point.  Today the little girl Brenna absolutely loves playing with was outside stomping in puddles.  Normally I would try to distract her from the window until the little girl went inside, but today I grabbed her jacket and rain boots (which she has had for a year now and never worn outside a single time yet for said BAD reasons above) and said "Let's go outside!"  Her face lit up and she had so much fun splashing, stomping, giggling, sending leaves and twigs down the stream of water coming from my neighbor's sump pump, pretending they were boats going down a river.  Yes I was cold, yes I had a slightly wet mess to clean up and yes she did ask for hot chocolate when we came in (which I said no to by the way), but it was totally worth it.  So here's to saying YES, when I really want to say NO!

Time to start dinner! =)