Day 1 Challenge: Say Yes to My Toddler’s Every Reading Request

Day 1

Follow along or join in.

Fail or succeed we will see. 

What drove me here? Mom guilt. 

Everyday there are a million things calling my name. Dishes. Laundry. Cleaning. Business. Bills. While I’m in the middle of doing anyone of those things I often finding myself telling my toddler no when he approaches me with a book asking if we can read it. And if I’m being honest there are far too many times I am not doing something more important like scrolling on my phone and I still tell him no. 

Are there times when parents have things they need or want to do and can’t always give their undivided attention to their children? Sure. But, I wonder why I often place so many other unimportant things higher than my child. If there’s one thing the devil hates is a good strong family. I think we are kept busy, busy, going, going in this world so that we don’t have time for the true important things in life like time with God and family. Simplifying life and slowing down. Taking time to read not just scroll and skim is something that brings peace to our souls. 

You see my toddler absolutely loves reading. We have an extensive library of children’s book. I was a reader child and still enjoy it now (when I have the time and can get myself free of distractions). I don’t want to stiffen that love for reading and learning. I want to be a present mom who stays connected with her children. Spending quality time with them. I can’t waste these precious years or miss out on beautiful moments together because I’m feeling like I should be doing something else “more important.” 

I’ve seen many videos of parents doing these “yes days” with their kids. Where the parents have to say yes to everything the kids want to do for the day (with some rules and guidelines obviously). My thought was what if I did that with reading or play time. Every time my child asked me to come play with him I would or every time my child asked me to read a book to him I would say “yes” and sit down to read with him. I decided to try to challenge myself with saying yes to my toddler’s reading requests today. Now I decided I would start this today, a Monday, this past weekend. But of course life had to throw me a curve ball this morning and I woke up with a crippling pain in the middle of my back. It was debilitating. I was trying everything: prayer, stretches, heat, cold, Biofreeze #Ad, medicine, etc. Nothing seemed to help much. Even now as I write this in the evening I’m still struggling with it. Anyway the pain all day didn’t help me any.

Did I say yes to my child every time he asked to read a book? …sadly no. There were several times I said no to him for various reasons. 

But, was it a complete fail? NO! We read 12 books today! That is still a win in my book. 

Tomorrow we will try again. (Hopefully I feel better and life throws me some strikes). Here’s to a better day of saying yes to my toddler’s reading requests. 

See how it goes by checking out Day 2 here: