Exhausted, I slumped into the chair. Our daughter toddled over to the DVD player and started pushing buttons. I blurted, “No, no.”

She looked at me, smiling, almost smirking, and pushed a button again.

I didn’t feel as though she was testing me. I was watching a lesson, a teacher in action.

I learned that my exhaustion was a distraction away from her innocence and wisdom.

I refocused.

Her innocence was open to learning new things. In her wisdom, she was asking me what new thing to learn.

This meant I wouldn’t have to say “no, no” so often.

I got up and found something for her to play with. Then I read a book to her. Then she played on her own.

Consequently, the word “no” dropped significantly from our vocabulary and as our daughter grew up, neither of us had the habit of saying “no” to one another.