This is Ria. Welcome to Little Stories for Tiny People.

So here's the deal. Our story today is about the word no. Tiny people no has to be one

of the most powerful words we have. It's a word that, when used well, can really help us

and keep us from getting overwhelmed. You probably hear the word no quite a bit from your

own big people. I've actually been accused of being a no-where person by my son because

he thinks I say no so much. And I tell him that I have to say no a lot because I hope when he's

grown up that he will know how to say no to himself when he needs to. Anyway, as I considered who to

invite as a guest for this episode, I tried to think of all my friends who seem to have a good grasp

of how to use the word no effectively. They're all highly capable animals doing pretty impressive stuff.

Franklin the Snake is the super-intended of a school. Kia, the turtle is a very successful accountant.

And June the Ladybug has this really adorable kids podcast where she tells original stories and

some of them rhyme and all of them are just really fun, but they're just for Ladybugs. Sorry, you're stuck with me.

Anywho. When I asked each of them to be my guest, they all said no. Apparently they're all very

protective of their time and just couldn't schedule me in. I get it. So I decided to take a different

tack. I thought of a friend who seems to have trouble saying no and I wanted to see if she might

learn something from the story. So I invited my friend Jade. And guess what? She said yes immediately.

I was thrilled except well it led to my current problem. For the last 20 minutes, Jade has been here.

Hey Jade, but not really here. She's been physically here, but she's been busy doing other stuff.

Jade, are you ready for the Jade? She's holding up a paw. Apparently she promised her friend Gerald

that she'd edit his PowerPoint slides. She agreed to lead her town's annual hat making contest.

And she also brought her friend Wanda. Hey Wanda, and is painting Wanda's snails.

To clarify it, she's not painting Wanda's nails. She's painting Wanda's snails.

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