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“The Boy who couldn't say ‘No’”
(A story about learning when and how to say ‘No’)
Once upon a time, there was a boy called Norman, who could not say, ‘No’. He lived with his mum and sister in a house above a shop that his mother owned.
There were many things that Norman could say, but there was one thing that Norman was unable to say. Norman was not able to say, ‘No’ and not being able to say ‘No’ caused Norman to get into a lot of trouble often.
Whenever anyone asked Norman to do something, he did it. Whenever anyone asked Norman to give him or her something he had, he gave him or her it. When someone asked Norman to ‘come here’, he came. When they asked him to ‘go there’, he went.
Now, you might well think that if you did everything that everyone asked you to do, you would never get into trouble.
For example, when your mum or dad asks you to go to bed, you could get into trouble if you said ‘No!’ If your teacher at school asked you to be quiet and you said, ‘No!’, your teacher would not be at all pleased. If a policeman asked you to stop playing in the middle of a busy road and you said ‘No!’, you would probably get into trouble.
But there are many times when the right thing to do is say, ‘No!’
But the trouble was, that try as he made, Norman could just not say, ‘No!’
There were times when Norman wanted to say, ‘No!’ and there were times when Norman ought to have said, ‘No!’
For instance, one evening Norman's mother asked him to look after their greengrocer's shop for ten minutes whilst she hung some washing out on the line to dry.
Whilst Norman was looking after the shop, a big boy came into the shop and asked, "How much is one eating apple?"
Norman said, "Ten pennies please."
The big boy said that he only had four pennies and asked Norman to let him have one apple for four pennies.
Before Norman realised what he was doing, he had given the big boy one apple and had taken his four pennies. Two minutes later a different boy came into the shop and said, "I want one of those apples that you sold my friend for four pennies." Norman sold him an apple for four pennies.
Before very long, news got around about the beautiful cheap apples and all the boys and girls in the neighbourhood came into the shop to buy one.
When Norman's mother came back into the shop, she was first very pleased to see that Norman had sold all of the ten-penny apples, but then became very cross when she discovered he had sold them for only four pennies each.
Norman was sent straight to bed as a punishment.
One day when Norman was at school playing football in the playground, the ball got kicked over the wall and went on to the busy road.
Now, all the children in the school had been told many times by the teachers, never to go outside the school gates during school hours, for any reason.
Norman knew it was not safe to leave the school playground, even for one minute, but one of his friends said, "I'll get the ball Norman, if you will come with me."
Norman realised that he ought to have said, ‘No’, but he could not say, ‘No’.
Norman and his friend Mahmood left the school playground, went out of the school gate together and began to look around for the ball.
Eventually Norman's friend saw the ball rolling down the road slowly and said, "Quick, let's get it Norman before we lose it!"
Again, something inside Norman told him he ought to say, ‘No’ and return to the safety of school playground immediately.
He tried to say, ‘No’, but the word would not come out of his mouth.
Just then, a police car began to come up the road, which the ball was rolling down. The policeman stopped his car, got out and stopped the ball rolling down the road any farther. Then he called Mahmood and Norman across to the police car so that he could have a word with them.
At first, Norman and Mahmood were frightened of what the policeman was going to say to them, and when the policeman put them both in the back of his car and drove them back to school to have a word with their class teacher, both boys knew that they were now in big, big trouble.
The boys arrived back at the school escorted by the policeman in the police car.
As the police car came through the school entrance, Norman, Mahmood and the policeman could see a lot of worried faces in the playground.
Amongst them, Norman could see his mother crying and Mahmood could see his father looking very worried.
When the worried teachers and parents saw Norman and Mahmood sitting in the police car, they were glad to have them back safe.
Norman, Mahmood, parents and the policeman all went into the office of the head where there was much talking and listening for a long time.
After the meeting in the head’s office, all the children and all the teachers at school were called to attend a special assembly, so that the policeman could speak to them all.
When everyone was assembled, the policeman spoke.
First, the policeman said that he was very pleased that Norman and Mahmood had been safely returned to school. He told everyone assembled that not all boys and girls who leave the school playground without permission are so lucky to return to it safely.
"Sometimes," the policeman said, "sometimes children going out of school grounds and onto the main road are badly hurt in traffic accidents."
The policeman told all the assembled children, ”All rules are there for very good reasons and if boys and girls obey those rules, they will remain safe.”
The policeman then said to the children, “There are some strangers that are good people and there are some strangers that are not safe to be alone with, especially if your parents or teachers do not know them.”
"But how do we know which strangers are safe to be with and which strangers are not safe?" asked one little boy.
"We don't know," said the policeman. "We can never know."
"That is why it is safer never to be alone with strangers," said policeman, "unless your parents or teachers have said it is okay."
"That is why it is never safe to take sweets from a stranger or to get into a stranger’s car without your parents."
"That is why," said the policeman, "that you must learn to say, "No!" sometimes."
"But I just cannot say, ‘No’," said Norman.
"It is easy," said the policeman, "when you know how to say, ‘No’."
"Please show me how," asked Norman.
"Yes, please do," said the other children, and the policeman did.
"The secret," the policeman, "is to stand up straight, to look the other person straight in the face, to take a big deep breath and then say, ‘No!’"
"If the other person is a stranger and they ask you again after you have said, 'No!'," said the policeman, "then please run and tell another grown-up person that you know immediately and do not talk to the stranger anymore."
All the assembled children listened to the wise policeman, especially Norman and Mahmood.
A few weeks later when Norman was playing in his front garden alone, his ball went over the wall and onto the busy road.
For one moment he thought about fetching it, but then decided it was safer to tell his mother, so that she could fetch it.
His mother had to break off what she was doing to fetch the ball, but she was pleased that Norman had been sensible by telling her.
She asked Norman if he would like an ice cream for being sensible.
Norman stood up straight, looked as mother straight in the face, took a big deep breath and said, "Yes, please!"
It wasn't that Norman could not say ,’No’ anymore, but that Norman did not want to say, ‘No’.
What would you say if anyone asked you to break the school rules and leave the playground?
What would you say if a stranger asked you if you wanted a sweet when you were not with your mum or dad?
What would you say if the stranger asked you to get into their car
when you were not with your mum or dad?
What would you say if the stranger asked you if you wanted an ice cream?
What would you say if your mum or dad asked if you wanted an ice cream?
The End
Everyone and Everything Page 11