Meet Moto Moto.
He’s a funny character in Madagascar 2, a movie my parents treated our family to when they were visiting in December.
Since that time we have thrown around some of our favorite lines…you know, the ones that make us die laughing. And by “we” I mean both our kids and me and Tony.
Tony keeps saying this line of Moto Moto’s: “And girl, my answer will always be yes unless no is required.” Hilarious.
But because he’s said it so many times, and because Zoe, my 5-yr-old repeats it too, I have gotten it stuck in my head. And the other day it hit me, wait a minute, that actually makes a lot of sense. Moto Moto may just have some brains with his brawn afterall. Who knew?
I know that with my kids, and my over-controlling tendencies, I say “no” a lot! It is very easy for that word to come flying out of my mouth with very little thought as to why I am even saying it. I’ve gotten lazy with my “no’s,” tossing them out as an easy one-size-fits-all fix to their questions or their actions.
What if I only said “no” when it was actually REQUIRED. What if “no” was not my first choice for the words flying off my tongue?
A few days ago I had all 4 of my kids with me at the grocery store. Nehemiah (2) and Luther (2 months) were in the cart and Zoe (5) and Charis (4) were walking. As we were waiting in line to check-out Zoe walked up to the person’s cart in front of us and literally reached into the lady’s cart and pulled out some candy. Horrified (now I realize it was silly to be so up-tight about it) I said, “Zoe, no! Put that down.” She didn’t even look at me. She paused and then went ahead and did what she was originally intending…She put the candy up on the checkout counter. She was being caring and kind by helping the lady empty her cart!
I realized that I have little faith in my kids or in myself as a parent. Perhaps sometimes my kids are actually going to display some of the virtues I’ve been trying to instill in them, but I cut them off too quick, assuming the worst in them. Perhaps also it’s okay for kids to “act THEIR age” instead of mine and mess something up. Afterall, don’t we learn from mistakes?
How many times is no REALLY required?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
great insight! and i absolutely LOVE that King Julian, I think Mad 2 is better than the first.
What a concept, having kids act ‘their’ age instead of mine. Wow, that hit me today. I’ve never thought about it that way. I think I’m always so preoccupied with what my little guy’s behavior says about me and my parenting, not about him, that I freak out about things like that. Good food for thought, thanks for sharing.
And I like the new format, cool beans!
@Courtney Oh that King Julian. His character is pretty hilarious.
@Laurel, that’s so right on…I too worry about what my kids’ behavior says of me. In fact I journaled a few weeks ago about this very thing. Sounds like another good blog post. Thanks for letting me know I’m not alone in that.
Oh yes. Sometimes I feel like I’m saying no way too much for no apparent reason at all.
“Yes, unless no is required.”
yes to this!!