Black and White

I can be a pretty black and white person sometimes. Actually, usually. It's taken me a while to come to terms with this. To know that it doesn't mean I am a bad person, I just have a harder time seeing the gray than others do. I am learning. Learning to be more gray, or at least to see the gray once in a while. But there are some things that are just black and white. Or at least they should be.
Like 'yes' and 'no'. I'm not a fan of 'maybe'. Most of the time, 'maybe' means 'no'. It means I don't have a good reason to say no right now, but I don't want to say yes, so I will say maybe, give some hope, and then come up with a good way to say no. Maybe is for people who can't commit. Sometimes it's good to just say no and be okay with that answer.
I digress...
Back to yes and no. And black and white. I like these to match up. Black is black, and white is white. That's just the way it is. And I wish this were true about yes and no. It should be, but it's not always this way. At least not with everyone. I try really hard to make my yes YES and my no NO. Without exception. This is important to me. I want people to know that my word can be trusted. And I want to trust the word of others.
I have encountered a few situations like this recently, but don't want to rant too much. But I think the worst is with kids. If I tell Micah yes to something, then I need to follow through. And the same goes with my no. I can't say no, or tell him he can't do something or can't have something, and then not follow through. This doesn't teach him anything.
And when your kid is at the pool squirting a water gun directly in my kid's face (after you have repeatedly told him not to, but he continues without blinking an eye) I am going to step in and tell your kid what to do. Do you want that squirted right in your eyes? From 10 feet away?! Doesn't feel too good anymore, does it?
At what point do you take the water gun away? Never? After the third time that he doesn't listen to you? After the 30th time that he doesn't listen to you? If you say 'don't do that' but never do anything about it when he does, what makes him want to not do that? Probably nothing.
It's hard to punish out in public (especially when you don't spank). I'm learning this as my toddler is getting to the stage where he is testing the boundaries. But I have to set boundaries, and I have to keep these boundaries, or else...
I digress...
All I'm saying (in a really long and ranting way) is let your yes truly mean YES and let your no truly mean NO. In all areas of your life.