NO
A year or two ago, my granddaughter Molly's favorite word seemed to be NO. You would ask her just about anything and the answer was probably going to be no. It might be said in different ways, such as an emphatic NO. Or sometimes it was a whiny no. And oftentimes it was a musical noooooo. Whenever she was in that kind of mood, I would laughingly tell her that no must be her favorite word and that would always get a no answer. One morning I suggested that we count how many times she said the word in a day. We didn't have to count long, only about ten minutes to count 14. One, two, three....fourteen in only ten minutes. We both laughed as the number grew. The conversation would go a bit like this. Molly lets get dressed for school. No. Do you want to wear pants or a skirt? No. Would you like a snack to take to school? No. Answering with the word no had become a habit for Molly. She didn't always mean it, but it was her way of expressing independence. I'm ...