“No” is a powerful word and tool in parenting.  It is much more powerful than the easier said, “Yes!” The boomer generation of parents, myself included, may have raised the most spoiled generation of children in history. This has sadly occurred at an economic time when “spoiled” will not work for their betterment. Sometimes love means saying no.

Do you remember the movie, “Love Story,” and the over-used, over-promoted, and overly hyped line from it – “Love is never having to say you’re sorry?”  I do, and I remember what a bad book and movie it was, though the almost forgotten Ali MacGraw was a boy’s dream girl as the star.  I think that promotional “line” is about the only enduring thing to come from that movie, which isn’t saying much.