Saying No

“Do you want to go to the next chapter?” aksed Mr Phillip.

“No thanks. Lets save it for next tuesday. Let’s try something different,”.

Happily choosing other activities for the lesson.

“You want blewah or es teler?”
“No thanks, I’ll make my own dessert today”.
Enjoyed her own oranges yoghurt dessert till the last drop.

“You want to continue tarawih?”
“No, I am so tired,” after coming home late from a family ifthar and a full day of fasting with morning swimming training.

Asked her again twice and it was still a firm no. A very rare no from her.

Yet, cried hard while others did tarawih and answered “because I miss tarawih” for the reason.

Words of comfort given by telling her that sometimes it was unavoidable to miss tarawih.

Daddy missed it because he worked till midnight, mommy missed it because of haid, yet accepting that you lost wasn’t something you could do in an instant. Left her and let her cried some more.

First thing asked during sahur,
“Have you crossed the board?”
“No, I haven’t. You do it on your own,”.

Few hours later, she pulled my hand to show something. A box with a cross sign and tiny writing on it.

Happy to see how she learns to say no and make a decision for herself, when the situation allows her to do so (not every situation allows her to say no). Happy for the adults who let her decide little things on her own instead of following what they want.

The consequences of saying no could be varied and it is not always pleasant. Sometimes it feels good after saying no, the other time you might regret and cried hard because of that no.

Things don’t always go according to your plan, but as long as you’ve tried your best, as the tiny writing she wrote say,

14 Ramadan 1433H.