House Rules

We try to extend a *liberal* outlook into aspects of family life. Both Jodie and I believe in helping the kids understand why they should or shouldn’t do stuff, rather than simply telling them how to behave. *Telling them* never seems to work anyhow :(

As a consequence, there are very few *rules* in this house. Generally there are only two:

1. No writing on the walls
2. Obey all the rules!

Recently however, there has arisen the need for a third rule:

Whatever you want to say, if it starts with the name of a brother or sister, we don't want to hear it.

Those blessed with just the one child might not readily see the imperative for this rule. I feel confident though, that parents of two or more children would agree that this rule ought actually to be hard-coded into the genetic make-up of all children. Quite frankly, the fact that it isn’t is ample evidence to disprove the theory of Intelligent Design.

“Michael hit me, Mom”, “Natalie bit me”, “Mackenzie said I am dumb” …. By the time breakfast is over, replying with “Not hard enough, apparently”, “Bite her back” and “Well are you? Ok then, ignore her”, is all wearing a bit thin.

It seems to me that Rule #3 is eminently sensible. I don’t, however, hold out too much hope for real success with it, judging by the amount of writing on the walls!

Later ….