
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 yoghurt—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.”
The next day, after we got settled at our hotel, I took Leopold to meet his snowboarding instructor. He had taken a few lessons back at home in Connecticut but had never had the opportunity to snowboard on a mountain of this size. My hope was that Leopold would make the most of this opportunity.
This story is from the July 2024 edition of Reader's Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2024 edition of Reader's Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In

Calendar Girls
After Molly Baker’s husband died suddenly, her friends organized a year’s worth of support

THE GREAT WILDEBEEST MIGRATION
It's a spectacular sight when countless ruminants cross the Serengeti in search of greener pastures

Soumitra Chatterjee's Tryst with Destiny
The encounter that led a budding actor to a legendary filmmaker, and sparked an iconic creative partnership during the golden age of Bengali cinema

Frozen in Time
The life and work of Vittorio Sella, a pioneer of early mountain photography and the man behind some of the very first images of the Himalayas

HALLUCINATIONS
There was a monkey perched on the IV drip stand to the right of my hospital bed. It scowled at me, but I wasn’t afraid: A brief simian visit was part of my daily routine. I never questioned why there was a monkey in the hospital. I wasn’t lucid enough to recognize that my mind was playing tricks on me.

Music in the Air
Cuba is bursting with sound, and each region moves to its own defining rhythm

SHOULD YOU TRY A DETOX TREATMENT?
It's a popular new-year health habit. But science doesn't support it

Ringing True
He thought his late parents' wedding bands were gone forever

14,000-FOOT MIRACLE
The skydiver fully expected to die when her parachute failed to open. Instead, she's writing the next chapter of her life

I SURVIVED!
THREE UNUSUAL MEDICAL EMERGENCIES, AS TOLD BY THE PEOPLE WHO NEARLY DIED FROM THEM