Helen
02/05/2015
Reflection question assignment # 2 If you have the power to remove ONE word from the English dictionary, and no one is allowed to use that word ever again; what word would it be and WHY?
If I had the power to remove one word from the English dictionary and no one was allowed to use that word ever again; that word would be “No”. The word “No” can bring negative feeling to our children. Besides this, it can also do damage to our children’s language skills and behavior growth.
Young children model themselves after adults a lot. They learn how to speak and act from imitation quickly. Saying no to children creates the chance that they will talk back to us. In addition to this, saying no can become unproductive when it's overused. Children think we are fooling around with them, and they do not take us seriously. Lastly, it will become a tiresome journey for adults and the children. The most influential Chinese philosopher Confucius said: “Do not impose on others what you do not desire others to impose upon you.” Most people don’t like hearing no from children, so why should we use the word no to them? As educators, we should find an effective way to discipline our children instead of saying no.
Removing the word “No” from the dictionary doesn’t mean we have to say “Yes” everything to our children. Try rephrasing our "no" as a "yes", and say no in a positive way. For example, I could say to my child, who is crying for the ice-cream before a meal, "Yes, you can have ice-cream after dinner. Let's go look for an orange for now." Or we could say to the children running in the class: “Walk in the classroom please” instead of no running. At the same time, we also need to inform the children the reason for saying that. In this way, we teach children respect. In addition to this, children also gain their language skills by communicating with us.
According to the experts, children who hear “no” too much will have poor language skills and behavior problems. With the time passing by, it will lead to the children’s low self-esteem. The children will have negative feelings about themselves. When a child has a negative feeling about himself or herself, he/she may produce disruptive activities. Meanwhile, the child also tends to act aggressively toward other children. Therefore, saying no to our children is very harmful.
Each word has its own purpose in our dictionary. We also need to teach our children to understand the meaning of “no” and know the importance. Understanding the connotation of no doesn’t mean we have to say the word, and we could use another word instead; such as “stop”. For example, when children have danger in life, they have the right to refuse unreasonable requests from strangers to protect themselves.
In general, as early educator professionals, we should avoid saying no as much as possible because it brings negative effect to our children. As we say no to the children, it creates an impassable barrier between us. Therefore, we must exclude the word no from our dictionary.

Great word. In general, many teachers use the word “no” of many times throughout the day when working with children. I wonder if each teacher would count how many times they use they word “no” in one hour/day, would it surprised them? We so often tell children no and can’t instead of telling them yes and can. If we approach children in a positive manners, I think we’ll be surprise how much less behavior issues and how much pleasant it would be to be a teacher in a classroom. Thank you for sharing your word choice. 25/25