Conversations, Life, Parenting, Philosophy 
2 Comments Conversations with Georgia: We don’t say Can’t
Now that I’ve told you about our policy of ‘No can’ts‘…
Photo by Paddynapper
Picture this, it’s peak time, rush hour in London, and we (Georgia and I) are rushing to our train on the Underground (Tube).
I’m loaded with a gi-normous hand bag, containing all accounts of pointlessness, I’ve a large scooter on a shoulder strap on the same shoulder as my handbag.
In my other hand I have a large shopping bag, and because we stopped off at the British Museum, where G made a kite (of willow and craft paper), we have that too – all 3 feet of it!
- Photo by Kre8tiv
And then we arrive at the never-ending escalators, except of course, there aren’t just 3 people on it (like in the picture) it’s teaming with suits and ties, fashionistas and tourists!
And because I’m out of hands, our conversation goes something like this…
Me: Right, you hold on to your kite and the hand rail and step on. I’m right behind you.
G: Can you hold the kite?
Me: No, look at what I’m carrying already!
G: OK then, can you hold on to my hoodie?
Me: No, I can’t, look I am holding on to all these things.
You can imagine what comes next…
G : Mum, we DON’T say CAN’T!
You could say, I asked for it! 😉
© 2011, Li-ling. All rights reserved.
Diane Levy, a Kiwi family therapist says the same thing. She reckons when kids say ‘can’t’ they actually mean ‘won’t’ and it’s a sure fire way to lose self-esteem if you let them go down that route. We frown when our boys use ‘can’t’ too…
How true that is! It is also interesting how easily picked up the ‘Can’t ‘ attitude is 🙂