Think back to your childhood and the rules and standards of behavior that your parents required you to follow. Were your parents' rules reasonable and fair?
Were the rules clear, and did they make sense to you?
Did they unreasonably apply adult standards of behavior when you were a young child?
Do you (or would you) set the same sorts of rules for your own children?
What was one rule of childhood you felt was arbitrary and unfair?
Friday, March 20, 2009
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My parents had thousands of rules, most of which made sense, at least at the time. There were a few, though, that were utterly confusing. For example, there was supposedly a rule about how to answer the phone, but the details were never quite spelled out and always seemed to be changing.
ReplyDeleteWell... not precisely a rule, but certainly 'arbitrary and unfair':
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in... 1st or 2nd year of secondary school - I'd have been 13 or 14 - I was in a particular class where for some reason there was a considerable amount of noise, disruption, acting-up, whatever. The teacher warned the class, and when that didn't work, imposed a collective punishment on the entire class.
Now I had done nothing apart from work quietly and attempt to follow the lesson. So I, alone amongst the class, simply refused to be punished. It caused a hell of a row, but my parents encouraged me to stand my ground, and the headmaster ultimately respected my position.
That teacher certainly taught me a lesson... but not, I suspect, the one she had intended to teach. And she certainly learned a lesson herself; no-one ever attempted to give me a collective punishment again!