Mike DomitrzPresident, Author, and Speaker on Respect, The Center for Respect, Inc. · Author & Speaker on Respect for Schools, Corporations, & the Military since 1990 (has reached

Teaching kids to say yes is equally important as empowering them to say no #centerforrespect #shorts

17 Sept 2024 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:00

In this YouTube short, speaker Mike Domitrz critiques the common parental focus on teaching children only the right to say "no" and argues that consent education must also empower kids to say "yes" when they genuinely feel comfortable. He notes that many progressive parents emphasize the right to refuse, but fewer stress the importance of feeling safe to give enthusiastic consent. Without this balance, children may become confused, feeling they cannot openly say yes yet still desire an interaction, leading to murky, coercive situations. Domitrz calls for parents to teach kids to recognize and express enthusiastic agreement, ensuring consent is understood as both a clear "no" and a clear, enthusiastic "yes." The message encourages a more nuanced, affirmative approach to consent education for children.

Chapters

Because what a lot of parents will do is say, you always have the right to say no. You always have the right to say no. And by the way, I say a lot. That's a lot of progressive parents will say that. Most parents aren't preaching that, which we need more of. But even lesser parents say, when you believe it's right for you, you should not feel guilty to say yes. Because if they do not feel safe saying yes, they'll play a game of, well, I can't say yes, but I want this. And consent gets very muddy, gets very confusing, 'cause I don't feel comfortable saying yes, but I want this to happen. So how do I get this to happen without me saying yes? And it gets— it's ugly and confusing. We don't want that. So we want somebody to be able to say yes if they absolutely feel that comfortable wanting it that they can enthusiastically say yes. I want them to say yes or no. That's part of consent, right? People hear consent, they think no, no, no, no, no. No, no, consent's actually yes. So people go, oh, I teach my kids consent. So you talked about how to say yes, right? Not just how to say no. You also taught