When my oldest was about 18 months old, I started to phrase questions such as “It’s time to brush your teeth, okay?” or “We’ll do that activity later, okay?”

When my youngest was old enough to understand what I was saying, I continued to end statements with “Okay.” Initially, I thought I was doing the right thing but whoozers has my second child proved me wrong!

You see my youngest beats to his own drum and so he started to push back and say “No, it’s not okay,” which meant I was now screwed. He would come up with creative alternative solutions to my “Okay” statements.

While I secretly applauded his tactics what I realized was that I was losing control over every day scenarios and losing parental control. It also affected my oldest because he started challenging me, too. Things quickly got out of hand!

I struggled for a while on how to change this situation. I have always prided myself on being an understanding person but what I forgot is that I’m the parent.

If I say “brush your teeth”, they need to do it. It’s not a negotiation or something that needs to be discussed. Slowly over time I have tried to remove the “Okay?” from my vocabulary. I know sometimes I sound like a drill sergeant; however I have noticed a difference in my kids. They actually do stuff now and don’t debate with me as much.

And that’s how I kicked the “Okay” habit.

Tweet me @weebootMom on any words you’ve overused or leave a comment below.