Saying 'No' to our Children

I'm guilty with this. I say 'no' to Maco almost all the time as she's really makulit, she wanted to feel and taste almost everything, but of course, I can't really stop that because she's curious with her surroundings. But how do I let her stop doing something / tasting everything she lays her hands to even when I had already told her not to?

I have read here that saying 'no' to babies all the time aren't good. They need to explore in order to learn things. Which I totally agree. 'Learning is experience' as they say. So, for my little girl who is 10 months now, it is better to distract her instead of saying 'no'. And I'm a proud mother here because since yesterday morning, I have done that. Of course I still say 'no' here and there but it's lesser than usual. Hahaha! I must say, I say 'no' to my little munchkin a LOT. I guess saying 'no' is fine but not a lot as what I do. I think saying 'no' often would make my little girl or any child to stop from learning, or to stop themselves from being curious. We're blocking their learning experience. And I think being curious is a good thing. At least kids are aware of their surroundings and they want to learn more about it.

My husband's nephew likes to ask a lot. He really does ask a LOT. I am guilty that sometimes I get annoyed because it's a question after question after question, but after that when I think about it, I think it's pretty good and healthy. Because at least he's curious about things, many things really... why my little munchkin can't stand yet, have I been a baby as well, who's my teacher in high school, what is the tagalog word for brown, and so on... He's curious with his surroundings and he wanted to learn. Which is a really good thing for a growing child. It's not always about books (hey I'm not saying to not let your child read! READING IS GREAT!), but sometimes kids or even us, adults, need to experience something in order to learn something.

So, what I'm trying to say here is, we should lessen saying 'no' to our children. Let them experience life. Life is not always good. But it would always be good if we learn to appreciate what life has to offer.

I'm not saying don't say 'no', because sometimes, some things must be a 'no' for children. But I think we could lessen it, right? We could explain to them why they can't do it, explaining wouldn't hurt anyone, would it?

For me though, I want my little girl to try things. To explore. To experience. And I will try my very best to lessen saying 'no' to my little one.