Let's Say Yes!

What started out as a way to get my son to try new foods opened up a world of adventure for my family

- Anne Fritz

LAST YEAR, AS my then-9-year-old son, Leopold, and I were prepping for a mom-son ski trip to Keystone, Colorado, I came up with a rule: We would say yes to everything. You see, Leopold is a picky eater-he subsists on chicken nuggets and yogurt and can be hesitant to try new things. According to him, it's because he has phobias, including heights, spiders and the dark, though I suspect he just has normal kid-sized jitters.

I was hoping to find a way to encourage him without resorting to worn-out adages like "If you don't try it, you'll never know if you like it." So I borrowed the idea of a Yes Day, something our family has done a handful of times since watching the movie of the same name. Before the trip, Leopold and I agreed we would say yes to everything, including food and experiences-especially new ones.

We started saying yes before we even boarded our flight, when we stopped at a breakfast buffet at the airport. For me, that meant I sampled a vegan meatball, while Leopold tried a mouse bite of hash browns he said looked "funny." Neither of us went back for seconds, but we each rated our respective new foods as "not bad."