"no" all day. every day.

[Adaline'sMama]

My 14 month old is saying "no" to everything. I thought this was a 2 year old thing to do! Im not ready for this.


Basically, anytime I phrase anything like a question, she responds with "No!". When I kiss her she says, "No, no no". She is even waking up in the morning and saying "no" before Ive even said anything to her. What is this about?

[tzs]

oh gosh, i wish i knew. we've had this since maybe 15 months or so....'tis the age. 

over here "no" doesn't always mean "no," sometimes it's just fun to say. although if she's saying no to a hug or kiss or something where i can teach her that i respect her voice, i do. but then there are the times that she's saying "no" to a cookie and grabbing it at the same time. 

funny thing is, she has a load of words by this point and i have yet to hear her say "yes."

[lovepickles]

I've noticed with my 16 month old that if I ask then she says no. But if I don't ask her a question and just give her a squeaky voice she is all for it. Something about how your voice drops at the end of a question and the fact that it is not actually a question tips her off and then come the multiple NOs.

And I realized that my questions weren't really questions but statements about what we were going to do. Also my tone of voice was so NOT FUN. So now I try to make it fun and avoid fake questions.

For example:

Me: Do you want to sit in your chair and eat some apples?

DD: NO NO NO NO

Me: APPLES! Look Apples! Eat apples! Yay apples. Time to eat APPLES!.

DD: APPLES! EAT EAT EAT

The trick is to be genuinely happy about apples. If you aren't convincing she won't be persuaded. They are really protesting your mood and not the actual words being said. It is crazy but whatever mood you want your toddler to be in you've got to get into it. They are little mirrors, only the fun house kind that totally amplifies the reflection into all sorts of crazy shapes.

<3

[ashmac12]

my son is almost 11 months old, has a sponge for a brain! he takes everything in. and when i ask him questions he shakes his head no at everything I say. Only he thinks its funny. I try to keep the word No down to a minimum, only when it needs to be used. Obviously like when hes doing something he shouldnt. funny, i guess they can learn NO early haha.